He was Richard Kneeland in 13 Going On 30. He starred along Simon Pegg as William Hare in Burke and Hare. And most recently, he briefly appeared in The Avengers: Age of Ultron as Ulysses Klaue. All of these performances are from Andy Serkis in the flesh. A lot of moviegoers don’t know the name or the face, but trust me, you know who he is.
Beginning as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings saga, Serkis has become the maestro of motion-capturing. However, according to Entertainment Weekly, even he did not know how this would all turn out:
“Andy Serkis didn’t know if the whole “motion capture” thing would take off after he played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It wasn’t until Peter Jackson asked him to be King Kong in the 2005 reboot that he realized his days as a “normal” actor were over.”
And he was precisely right. I told you you would know who he is.
He’s played some of the biggest, most legendary creatures in cinematic history, and it continues with the rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy. As Caesar, Serkis is extraordinary, turning it in to one of the most revolutionary and greatest trilogies of all time. From Rise to Dawn to the War finale, these films are philosophical action movies, summer blockbusters with sensational smarts.
No longer does the man behind the beasts have to hide in their shadow. Now is the time for Andy Serkis to be recognized for such an achievement. Fuck those who think it’s not real acting. He may be decked out in digital make-up, but he talks the talk and walks the walk. His emotions are solely his and they pour through every character he has ever portrayed. No amount of technology or its advancement can do what he can do.
All hail Andy Serkis!
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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