5-Minute Time Out: Andy Serkis
The Inkheart star on being Gollum, King Kong - and a father of three.
by Gwynne Watkins
January 30, 2009
As an actor, Andy Serkis has the unique distinction of playing two iconic characters — Gollum in Lord of the Rings, and the title character in the recent King Kong remake — without ever having shown his face. Of course, he briefly appeared in both those films as a human actor (the pre-Gollum character Smeagol in Rings, and ill-fated Lumpy the Cook in King Kong), and fans can check out his real face in the new film Inkheart, an adaptation of Cornelia Funke's book about a family who can bring books to life by reading out loud. Serkis plays Capricorn, a villainous henchmen who has been freed from the storybook world and set loose in our own, opposite heroes Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, and child actor Eliza Hope Bennett. Up next, Serkis will be appearing as Einstein in HBO's Einstein and Eddington, as Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg's Tintin, and then once more as the character who made him a star in Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit. Babble spoke to Serkis, father of three young children, about juggling the demands of raising a family and playing a giant ape. — Gwynne Watkins
It seemed like you, Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent were having an especially good time in this film.
We shot in Italy in Liguria, which is the most extraordinary place, and actually Cornelia Funke, the author — she wrote the book because of that environment. So to go and actually shoot it there was a real pleasure. This film has a European sensibility, and it also has a dark edge. So that village, which is a big character in the piece, was wonderful. It was an old, wrecked by an earthquake, ramshackle village. So we all hung out and ate a lot of Italian food and had a great time.
Inkheart is about the magic of reading. I imagine you do a mean bedtime story.
I like reading at bedtime. It's probably the best acting I ever do. I'm reading The Phantom Tollbooth right now, which I absolutely love. I loved it as a kid, and I'm reading it to my children.
Any favorite character voices?
I do like Humbug. And the King of Dictionopolis. Those are my two best characters. [Laughs.]
"My kids came and watched me be a twenty-five-foot ape."
There's a computer-animated monster — The Shadow — at the end of Inkheart. What was it like to be in a film with a big CG character who wasn't you?
It was great! It was brilliant! And actually he was a great actor who played The Shadow. And people didn't even think it was an actor doing it, but he was on stilts, and then they used his movements for the shadow. And it's chilling.
Have your kids realized yet that you're King Kong?
They came and watched me be a twenty-five-foot ape. They came to the motion capture stage, and they could sit and watch on the screen King Kong romping around, and then see me romping around next to it. So they totally get the connection. In fact, they keep asking me, "Who played the dinosaurs?"
Your first child was still in an infant when you moved to New Zealand for three years to film Lord of the Rings. Has your wife forgiven you yet?
That was a really tough time. She was nine or ten months old, so it was a reasonable chunk of time. That was a really difficult time. Being away from someone -- not just a little bit away, but like other side of the world. Completely, diametrically, on the other side of the world, twelve thousand miles away, and you can't get back for the weekends, and it's hard, really. But there were chances and times when they could come over, and my wife's an actress so she obviously understands and doesn't want me to step on her career too much as well, and since we've had more children she's been willing to take more time out to do that. When we did King Kong we all moved out for a year and they went to school. I don't know what we're going to do in the future, as the kids get a little bit older.
©2009 Gwynne Watkins and Babble
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
Gwynne Watkins was Babble's founding Senior Editor. She has written for a variety of web and print publications, and her theatrical work has been produced throughout the New York area. Her new family musical, Tea with Chachaji, will premiere in early 2010. |
|
|
-
by Cole Gamble
How were these ever considered "family films"?
-
by Marisa Meltzer
Juicy gossip from the set of the '80s kids show.
-
by Gwynne Watkins
They Might Be Giants on babies, bad shows and Brooklyn.
|
