According to unsubstantiated reports, Andy Serkis (Gollum) will be providing live action capture for Jackson as Kong in the upcoming reworking of the classic film. Seeing how successful Jackson, Serkis and WETA were with Gollum, I think this a positive...

reported at www.theonering.net

Big differnce between a hairy monkey and a almost-bald freak. Kong will be much harder than Gollum.

KONG: The one gorilla to rule them all!

Let's see...

Gollum. A creature that moves around fast...has a great voice..etc..

Kong: A huge ape..that has no voice.

I fail to see why Andy should have anything to do with the Kong project... Though, I'm all for Weta as they done an amazing job with the Gollum CGI.

Well I think you guys are missing the fact that Serkis has proven he's good physical actor. Having him as the basis will probably give Kong a more realistic look in terms of movement.

This another attempt to get him a "best supporting" award?

So I guess Serkis is gonna study gorillas, they motion capture him then blow that up in cgi to Kong's size?

How big was Kong in the original movie?

like 6'-5" or something.......he was tall

He needs to join the nba

I think you're off by several feet.

The press releases at the time said 40', but he varied from 18' to 50', depending on the scene.

Right on point. Serkis has shown himself to be adept at physicality. And also very capable in reproduction of physicality in the necessary stages of CGI motion capture work. Plus, having a fixed actor to use as a focus for the scenes (as opposed to acting to the tennis ball approach) will help provide an emotional connection in the more dramatic scenes involving Kong and his lady fair...

I call bullshit.

Yeah, this does smack of "fanboy wishful thinking" to me.

Well, not so much that... but what studio, even one working with Jackson, would hire a brilliant english character actor to tumbl about in a gorilla suit? They can get anyone for motion capture - hell, Ang Lee did Hulk's movements himself.

And why is that... Jackson has shown that he is VERY loyal to those who've worked well with him in the past and he has already brought many elments from LOTR on board for Kong (including Howard Shore and most of the technical crew). Seeing as I don't see Serkis as a major film leading man, it would be a wise career move from him to get as much work in the motion capture CGI area as possible.

As reported, it is a rumor. But I think it's a rumor well grounded in prior practice and maybe even a little fact....

Well, yeah, I bet Ahmed Best will be looking for some motion capture work and we all know how his CGI character turned out. And the Hulk was so realistic it set new levels for CGI motion....

Oh, wait, what was I thinking... The reason for hiring someone like Serkis is that he understands how the CGI motion capture process works and how to work with the animators to make the final product more photo-realistic.... Universal would do well to pay Serkis to participate.

Sorry Groucho, you were right, it DOES smack of "fanboy wishful thinking"...

Nice thread crap.... Seriously, while I freely admit to being a LOTR fan, why not provide some serious discussion on the item instead of one-lining it...?

I've given significant reasons in support of both why this may be true and why it is good if it is true. I'm open to other opinions, but it doesn't seem that you've really expressed any other than your doubts that the studio would pay the cost to hire a professional actor to perform the part. But since Jackson didn't use the actor solely for motion capture purposes in the original, but also for dramatic acting purposes, I think it likely that he (Jackson) will use the same approach for Kong.

"dramatic acting purposes"? It's KING KONG!



From "MacKong": "RAAAAAAAA!!!!raaaaaghr!!... I mean, um, IS THIS A SKYSCRAPER WHICH I SEE BEFORE ME? COME, LET ME CLUTCH THEE..."

My only problem with this is that an ape has more body mass, and would carry itself differently. The range of motion and the way a person moves is different between a bulked up bodybuilder and a skinny guy, for instance.

If it's true then I'm all for it. If anyone can pull it off, it's PJ, Andy Serkis, and WETA. After the phenomenal work on LOTR I have faith in them that they can do King Kong well.

Psh, it'll just look like a hairy brown Shrek!

they should get Michael Clarke Duncan to do the motion capture

Oh please! I think Serkis did a great job with the voice of Gollum. But for the mo-cap, he put on a frickin' suit with ping pong balls on it and moved the way Jackson told him to. It didn't take a lot of skill, I don't care what anyone says. Everyday people were doing this stuff years before anyone knew who Andy Serkis was. It's been done in the gaming industry for years, and even in numerous movies before LOTR was made.


It took no talent from Serkis to do that, whatsoever. You could have done it, as long as you have two good ears and can follow directions. Let's not make more of this than it is.

WETA deserves credit for creating Gollum. Serkis deserves credit for the voice acting.