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Lord of the Rings actors Elijah Wood, (left to right) who plays Frodo, Andy Serkis, who is Gollum's Voice, and Billy Boyd, who plays Pippen, arrive at the Countdown to the Return of the King party at the Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto on Thursday.
TORONTO (CP) - Andrew Serkis swears nobody ever asks him to do the voice of Gollum.
But the barely suppressed grins on the faces of his amigos Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Billy Boyd (Pippin) betray him. "Every journalist, if someone brings in a cup of tea they'll ask Andy to do the voice," Boyd declares with a laugh. "It's the world's greatest party trick," adds Wood.
Yes, Serkis, finally confesses, he's always being asked to serve up a sample of that raspy-voiced schizophrenic creature who is one of the most remarkable characters in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
So Gollum is invited to offer his impressions of Canada and Toronto:
"Toronto is the worst place I've ever been to in my life!" he hisses with a sound that suggests sandpaper on helium.
"No, no it's not precious, it's the best, it's a BEAUTIFUL country!" replies his alter ego.
"How do you know? You've just seen the inside of a hotel room!"
One thing is not uncertain. Serkis, Wood and Boyd are best buds, a friendship that they say will last a lifetime because of their shared experience shooting the rapturously successful Rings films in New Zealand the last four years. They arrived in Toronto this week as part of a promotional tour for the third instalment, Return of the King, opening in theatres Dec. 17. A special edition of the second chapter, The Two Towers, was also released on DVD recently.
Serkis himself feels particularly vindicated these days. Originally, the character of Gollum, the sometimes-pathetic, sometimes-frightening salamander-like critter, was deemed to be computer-generated, much like Yoda from Star Wars and Dobby, the house elf from Harry Potter.
But it was Serkis who breathed life into the image, not just with the voice but by donning a motion-capture suit and acting out Gollum's onscreen physicality so that the computer could properly overlay the digital version.
"When The Two Towers came out and people had such a great response to the character, Peter (Jackson, the director) and New Line, everybody worked hard to let the world know there was an actor's performance behind the CG character."
But Serkin's eligibility for the Academy Awards remains in limbo.
"The debate's been opened up, it's been cracked open," he says. "I'm really glad. I think the debate will be ongoing until a point comes where there will be some formal way of acknowledging the work."
Still, none of the three has any regrets they may be identified with the Rings film franchise for as long as they live.
Wood, whose eyes are not CGI-enhanced but truly are as big and blue as they appear on screen, waxes rhapsodic about the experience of letting Jackson take him on such a journey.
"It's been amazing. His accomplishment, what he's been able to do with these books, bringing them to the screen, and consequently sending his direction out over thousands of artists and incredibly passionate people, is incredible!"
And Boyd adds that the fan base of readers of the original J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy adventures has been almost universally pleased, with only a minimum of nitpicking.
"You know, little things like 'I wish Tom Bombadil had been in the first one (a book character deleted from the screenplay).' Other than that. . .I've been amazed at how universal it's been accepted."
There was a bit of a discouraging word last week when veteran actor Christopher Lee declared he likely wouldn't attend the premiere of Return of the King because a large chunk of his climactic fight scene had been edited out.
Wood confirms that the sequence with Lee as the evil wizard Saruman was being saved by Jackson for next year's special extended edition DVD set.
"God, if you were Christopher Lee you'd feel bad as well," Wood says. "I feel horrible for Christopher."
Meanwhile, when the Rings trilogy excitement finally ebbs, there will be no shortage of epic fantasy tales waiting in the wings. Wood says there are already plans - although not by Jackson - to film the classic books of British author C.S. Lewis, a Tolkien contemporary. For his part, Jackson will be proceeding with a miniseries remake of King Kong. Wood says he'd love to be in that one. Serkis denies reports he would be the actor behind the big ape's face, but says if he were asked he wouldn't say no.
Then there's The Hobbit, Tolkien's prequel to the Rings adventures. Wood says that while the crews in New Zealand are up for it, Jackson initially said no because he had already invested a large part of his life in the trilogy.
"At this point, Peter's now considering it because I think he just doesn't want anyone else to do it. If it's done, he knows and I think everybody else knows, that the only way to do it is to continue it in New Zealand with the same artists so that it has some sort of visual continuity to these films. So, you never know."
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Some quotes from three of the Lord of the Rings actors, who visited Toronto this week to promote next month's theatrical release of the third instalment in the franchise, Return of the King:
"I never had a doubt in my mind that the movies were going to be brilliant. Whether they were successful or not was kind of irrelevant." - Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins).
"It was scary early on. Gollum was a very memorable character from the book, and so I did feel at times if this goes down the pan it will be disastrous." - Andrew Serkis on his being the human underpinning of the computer-generated character.
"We've made some of the greatest friends of our lives, you know. We will all be friends for life. It's sort of like suddenly stumbling onto a new family." - Wood.
"I've been amazed at how universal it's been accepted, because the books were so loved and people know so much about it. But I haven't encountered that at all." - Billy Boyd (Pippin) on whether they hear criticism from nitpicking Tolkien fans. | |
