Andy Serkis is hailed as a legend of motion capture performances. His work behind the mo-cap suit in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Planet of the Apes trilogy are widely appreciated by fans worldwide. However, it can’t be denied that motion-capture performances have still not received the critical acclaim they deserve.
When the King Kong actor was asked his thoughts on motion-capture acting having a separate Oscars category, he strongly refused it. Serkis thinks that motion-capture acting is not different from normal acting and can also be acknowledged in the present Oscar categories.
Why is Andy Serkis against motion-capture acting getting a new Oscar category?
In an interview with /Film for the promotion of War for the Planet of the Apes, when Andy Serkis was asked if Mo-cap should get an Oscar category, he strongly rejected it. According to him, it is no different from acting with costumes. Motion capture performance just helps the actors to delve more into the character and feel the moment.
“Absolutely not. But the matter is – we are actors playing roles and they happen to be in this instance apes but there’s no difference. In the scenes that we’re playing, if we were to block out the scenes as actors in costumes, it would be no different. The process is no different. The process of acting is no different. You’re embodying the character. You’re creating the psychology and the physicality. You’re living the moment.”
Terry Notary, who played the faithful lieutenant to Caesar, Rocket, also agreed with Serkis’ comments and that it is just “a different form of costume”. Andy Serkis added that the animators also carry out a difficult job of “translating and interpolating” the facial performances but the roles are “authored” by what the actors do on set.
Terry Notary also commented that sometimes it can get difficult for the animators to accurately translate Serkis’ incredible facial expressions and nuances in his character.
Andy Serkis wants motion-capture actors to get the same respect as general actors
Andy Serkis emphasized his stance on motion-capture performance again in an interview with the Daily Telegraph (via The Guardian). He revealed that a separate Oscar category is not needed but the actors should receive their due credit.
The presently 60-year-old cited his own example to show how some fans ask him if he did the voice of Gollum or the movements of King Kong. He added that cinema enthusiasts are still unaware of the concept of motion capture.
“I am a bit evangelical, I know, but performance-capture is still misunderstood. Ten years down the line, people say, ‘Oh, so you did the voice of Gollum?’ Or people go, ‘You did the movements for [King] Kong?’ It’s frustrating, because I play Gollum and I play Kong. It is acting.”
In an interview with BBC, Andy Serkis discussed more about motion-capture. He described the whole process by breaking down the two steps in detail- “The first part is capturing the performance. Only later down the line do you start seeing the characters being painted over frame by frame using pixels.” The Venom 2 filmmaker labeled the process “digital make-up”.
Even though Serkis has left behind his widely-loved role of Caesar, he is still associated with the Planet of the Apes franchise. Recently the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes star Owen Teague shared with ET Online that the Tintin actor helped him to adapt to the new technology. Looks like it worked well as the Wes Ball directorial has grabbed amazing early reviews.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be released on May 10, 2024.
