(Cover) - EN Movies - Andy Serkis has spoken about the “pearls of wisdom” Peter Jackson gave him.
Andy voices the part of Gollum in upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, directed by movie legend Peter.
The actor also served as Peter’s second unit director throughout filming and says he learnt a great deal from the 51-year-old.
“The things that Pete said to me earlier on, before I started, ‘the pearls of wisdom’ he gave to me [laughs], were great,” he smiled to Flick and Bits.
“It was just to try to make every take better, try to make every take different, give yourself choices, and find the story in every single beat, in every single shot – because a film is made up of moments. A film is made up of moments, a scene is made up of moments; a shot is made up of moments. That’s what I really carried with me the most. The thing with second unit on a project like this, it’s not just hand shots or picking up little bits and pieces, it’s very much sort of sharing the vision and being Peter’s eyes and ears. It’s an amazing experience.”
The pair also worked together on The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Andy says Peter has always been aware of his ambition to take on a directorial role and thought of him when seeking help for The Hobbit.
“Peter Jackson had known way, way back on The Lord of the Rings days that I wanted to direct, he’d seen short films that I’d done,” the 48-year-old explained.
“And Peter just said, ‘Look, this will be a chance for you to expand and really to get to grips with filmmaking on a big scale.’ And it has proved to be the most extraordinary, challenging, difficult [laughs], but immensely life-changing experience. I think I understand Peter’s sensibility, and we have a common history of understanding Middle-earth. A lot of the crew from The Lord of the Rings was returning to work on The Hobbit films. So there was definitely a sense of Peter wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic.”
There are three films in The Hobbit series - An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again.
The second and third films are due out in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
