Andy Serkis Making Project With AI Characters: A ‘Form of Magic That Is Frightening People’

Andy Serkis is working on a new project that involves AI characters.

Serkis is known for his motion-capturing acting and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy, and more. He has also directed films such as 2018’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and more.

He’s now working on a new Lord of the Rings project that is tentatively called The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

Per Deadline, Serkis announced at the UK’s Labour Party conference that his Imaginarium production company is working on a “narrative-driven story” involving AI characters.

What do we know about Andy Serkis’ project with AI characters?

Serkis said that the story will begin with 2D characters who then “come out into the AR [augmented reality] world.”

He continued, “At that point, they become AI characters authored by artists and directors. They are in a world where you can have direct relationships with these CGI characters.”

It’s not yet clear if the project will be a television series or a movie.

Serkis said of the project’s use of AI, “It is another form of magic that is frightening people. Even the biggest VFX companies are not creating as great things as individuals in their basements. It is much misunderstood, much maligned, and lumped together in the same way that people probably felt the internet was going to destroy everyone’s lives.

“…It’s taken a long time for actors to even understand what it is to put on a costume or make-up but stand in a [special] suit and do essentially what you do [normally], which is act. We need the permissions to be there so you are able in some way to monetize these artists’ [work] in a proper way.”