Just when it seemed like all The Avengers casting news there could possibly be had been broken, Andy Serkis goes ahead and confirms his involvement in the film in an interview with Variety. The actor, who is starring in this year’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been a pioneer in the field of performance capture ever since his groundbreaking portrayal of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings franchise. He has continued to be at the centre of further developments for the art form with films like King Kong (2005), 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and even served as an adviser on this year’s Godzilla.
It was already known that the actor had another mega-franchise set for the future, with Star Wars: Episode VII set for 2015, however it is now confirmed that Serkis will also appear in next year’s sequel to 2012’s phenomenally successful Avengers Assemble. Serkis did reveal that he has also been working closely with Mark Ruffalo for the sequel, whilst performance capture studio, the Imaginarium (co-founded by Serkis) will also serve as consultant for the film. But what’s really intriguing is this confirmed part that Serkis will play in the film itself.
The nature of Serkis’s role is currently unknown however the announcement will no doubt set the internet ablaze with speculation. Serkis was unable to confirm if his part will be live action or performance captured but he insists that he never draws a distinction when playing a role, “Acting is acting. It’s just basically what you wear to set that’s different”. It’s nice to see that Serkis is becoming something of a household name despite the fact we rarely ever see his face and it’s equally encouraging to see that performance capture is becoming more of a recognized and legitimate mode of creating characters. Whatever type of character Serkis is playing in the film, his future does seem incredibly bright, early buzz on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been very positive and now, with both Star Wars and The Avengers on the way, 2015 could well be Serkis’s year.
