Andy Serkis getting a genuine Oscar / awards push for his
performance as Caesar in Rise of The Planet of The Apes was a talking point in the film media this summer. From The Hollywood Reporter to Aint It Cool
to this very site, the debate as to whether the people who vote for awards are
finally ready to ditch their fear / prejudice / ignorance around the art of
Motion Capture performance and hand out, at the very least, a major nomination
for a Mo-Cap performance.
Rise of The Planet of The Apes: Featurette claims the film wouldn’t be possible without Andy Serkis.
Most people who watched the film with anything approaching
an open mind were struck by the quality, depth and level of performance in Andy
Serkis’s performance. A look at the behind the scenes footage clearly shows
that it is Serkis, in a full body act that you are seeing on screen, with what
has aptly been described as “digital Makeup”. It is that element, the almost ethereal
nature of the additions, as opposed to the solid, hard copy type of “make up”
that actors are familiar with, not to mention the fear of being replaced by ‘synthespians’,
that seems to have been the problem in the past. But if John Hurt & Natalie
Portman can receive nominations and awards for the Elephant Man and Black Swan,
both of which had performances ‘enhanced’, then why not Serkis here? I’d argue
that his performance is at least the equal of both those mentioned above.
On that note Serkis has benefited from Fox not signing up
actors for multiple films. With his performance (allied to the impressive technology
on display) being the core driver of the film’s$455m (and still rising) gross.
With a shooting cost of $93m it has meant the film is one of Fox’s more successful
releases this year. More to the point, with audiences now convinced of the
quality of the technology and the story (many consider this to e on a par with
the original Apes movie, if not better) it is expected that a sequel of similar
quality could earn even more. As such Fox have moved to secure Serkis with a
much bigger fee than he received for Rise.
Serkis is currently wowing audiences across the globe in
another motion captured role, as Captain Haddock in Tintin. A role he is
scheduled to reprise sometime in 2012. That Tintin film is to be directed by
Peter Jackson, who Serkis has been working for, again in Mo-Cap, reprising his
role as Gollum in The Hobbit.
The technology has improved markedly since Lord of The
Rings, with the facial cameras, made famous in Avatar, meaning that the level
of performance from the actor’s eyes and facial expressions in massively
increased: the argument that this crucial part of an actor’s performance is too
much a hybrid of actor and effects people no longer holds water. That didn't prevent Zoe Saldana getting ‘snubbed’ for her performance in Avatar.
Global Box office battle sees Tintin breaking records...
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| Serkis as Captain Haddock in Spielberg's Tintin. Here it is the eyes that are key to getting across the strength of performance, not "100% realistic looking humans. |
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| Mo-Cap a decade ago, already a very dated tech! |
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| Another Mo-Cap perforance that many feel desered recognition is Zoe Saldana's in Avatar |
The key to making this film work wasn't about having apes as photo-real as possible, they were very good though, it was in the eyes. They had to look intelligent, to look just that little bit different; and they did, but that also has to do with the skill of the performers.
So do you think Serkis deserves an Oscar, Bafta etc Nomination?
Do you think he should win? I’ve seen dozens of films this year, from Drive,
Detective Dee and We need to Talk About Kevin, to Thor, Tintin Kung Fu Panda
and I can honestly say Serkis’ Best Actor (NOT Best Supporting Actor) hasn’t
been bettered yet. He gets my vote, oh yeah I’m not a member...
(Fox Oscar push according to Deadline.com)
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