Serkis is KING KONG-a-go-go

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Friday, June 11, 2004
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

While it's not truly news to those who have been following the latest developments on Peter Jackson's remake of KING KONG, today The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Andy Serkis will indeed be used as a motion capture reference for the great big ape. One item that is new is that Serkis will also be playing a human in the film, that being the part of Lumpy, the cook of the steamer ship Venture that sails to Skull Island, the home of Kong.

Jackson took the opportunity to single out why Serkis' skills will be vital to the creation of Kong as a character in the film. "While Andy will provide very valuable onset reference, this doesn't mean we will be softening Kong by attempting to humanize him," the director told the Reporter. "The power of the story lies in the fact that this is a savage beast from a hostile environment, and we don't intend to compromise that."

Serkis played a similar role in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy of films, playing the part of Gollum.


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