Andy Serkis has reportedly been tapped to star alongside Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron in upcoming comedy Flarsky.
The English actor is said to have boarded the Lionsgate project, which is being directed by Warm Bodies filmmaker Jonathan Levine from a script penned by Dan Sterling, the man behind 2014's controversial flick The Interview, also starring Rogen and James Franco.
According to Variety, Serkis will play the media mogul boss of Rogen's title journalist alter ego, Fred Flarsky. In a bid to make his life better, the political reporter tries to win over his former babysitter and childhood crush, who is now the U.S. Secretary of State and played by Theron.
Production is currently taking place in Montreal, with a release date slated for 9 February 2019.
Serkis has his hands full at the moment; fresh off the success of his directorial debut, Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield as real-life polio sufferer Robin Cavendish, the star's next film outing is Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which hits cinemas next month (Dec17). Serkis will reprise the computer generated role of the evil Supreme Leader Snoke, who he first provided the moves and voice for in 2015's The Force Awakens.
He's no stranger to digitally created parts, with his most famous character being ape Caesar in the rebooted Planet of the Apes films, but Serkis insists this type of job isn't any different from appearing as himself on screen.
“The approach is no different to a live-action role," he told Deadline. "It’s not standing in a voice booth for two hours every six months, it’s living with that character day-in and day-out on set for the entire duration of the shoot, living and breathing every single moment, making acting choices that you would do in the conventional sense. The performance is not augmented or changed by a committee of animators. It is honoured, and the fidelity is sought to translate that performance."
