Empire Online
July 3, 2001

I'm a Tolkien Junkie
Staff Reporter

British actor Andy Serkis will be appearing in one of the biggest movies of the year - but his isn't the type of role that will get him pestered on the street. Serkis is playing the animated hobbit Gollum in The Lord of the Rings series, and CGI will ensure he's completely unrecognisable on screen.

"[Gollum's] an an amazing role," Serkis tells the Highbury and Islington Express. "The way we've done it is to use a combination of animation and motion capture... so I get to do the voice and physicality of the part."

Serkis, who is currently appearing on stage in London before returning to New Zealand for post-production work on films 2 and 3 in the series will apparently play up the role of Gollum as a 'ring junkie, complete with withdrawal symptoms.' "When you are playing such an extreme character," the actor explains, "you have to root it in something the audience can identify with."

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