Los Angeles Oct 14 (IANS) Actor Andy Serkis almost turned down the offer to portray Gollum in the popular "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
The 53-year-old shot to fame through the Peter Jackson-directed franchise based on J.R.R. Tolkien s books. At first Serkis thought the part was just a voice role and he came close to snubbing the part that changed his career.
"I certainly didn t intend to (become a performance-capture expert). When I started doing The Lord of the Rings I liked the gamble " Serkis told theguardian.com.
"Originally I heard it was going to be like doing a voice for a digital character and I wasn t interested but then I met Peter Jackson and he said We want an actor to play the role be on set and make decisions for that character " he added.
Later he went on the play role of title role in the 2005 film "King Kong".
"That was the epiphany because it was like: you can now play anything. Then as the technology evolved and facial capture came into play and (it became) total performance capture not just motion I realised how important it is as an actor s tool in the 21st century " Serkis said.
--IANS
sas/rb
