Andy Serkis pushes back against fears that AI will replace Gollum

Andy Serkis stunned the audience when he first appeared as small, emaciated Gollum, who is obsessed with the One Ring, in 2001. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Now, decades later, a movie centering on the creature, titled The Hunt for Gollum, is in the works.

But in the wake of the encroachment of AI in the industry, fears were raised about whether the technology would ultimately replace Gollum.

However, Serkis disagreed.

The actor admitted that artificial intelligence is already producing stunning Lord of the Rings-style photos.

"You look on TikTok, and there are 1000s of images, and of all 'The Lord of the Rings' characters and many others, and you see something extraordinary."

But what the AI-produced creation lacked was an actor's performance.

"So ‘yes’ is a version of the truth, but it’s not authored by a performance," he said.

Serkis added that human creativity is still at the heart of performance despite the rise of AI.

"So there are elements of the character that could work, but at the end of the day we’re talking about storytelling, and storytelling and drama is what happens between actors, and performance capture, obviously, is an actor’s authored technology."

The BAFTA winner further breaks down the difference between human and AI creation, stating that the latter may handle the short moments but, in his view, cannot produce full-feature emotional depth.

"So I don’t think you’ll be able to replace performance, not as yet. For small prompted moments, I think it stands up."

"But the whole notion of a script, from A to Z, page one to 120, and the minutiae of actors’ decisions that author their characters, I don’t believe that that could be completely replaced," he noted.

Despite Serkis's criticisms, he does reveal the use of artificial intelligence, though limitedly, in The Hunt for Gollum for de-aging effects.

The Hunt for Gollum will arrive in cinemas in Dec 17, 2027.