Andy Serkis is renowned in Hollywood for his expertise in motion-capture roles. He portrayed Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and the eponymous character in the 2005 film King Kong. Nonetheless, his contribution as a Performance Capture Consultant in Gareth Edwards’ 2014 kaiju movie, Godzilla, is less known to many fans. Serkis clarified that this was not an extensive acting role as his previous portrayals of monsters.

Andy Serkis doing the motion capture work for Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi | Lucasfilm Ltd.
In addition to acting, Andy Serkis has ventured into filmmaking. He directed “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle,” also performing motion capture for Baloo. Moreover, he directed “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” starring Tom Hardy. Serkis is set to direct the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” film, “The Hunt for Gollum.”

Andy Serkis Deserves An Oscar For His Contribution To Godzilla and The Monsterverse

A still from Godzilla (2014) | Legendary Pictures
Andy Serkis is recognized as a trailblazer in performance capture acting. His extensive experience led him to establish his own motion-capture studio, Imaginarium, in London. Serkis lent his expertise to the American adaptation of the Japanese kaiju film, Godzilla, released in 2014.

As per IMDb, Serkis is acknowledged as a Performance Capture Consultant for Godzilla. During WonderCon 2014, he detailed his involvement to IGN in an interview, disclosing that Imaginarium was brought on board to consult on the project after the initial filming had started.

Serkis explained that, unlike his other films where he played the monster, he had a limited but crucial role in depicting the kaiju monster. He revealed that he did not have to play the character all the way through but he was tasked with bringing emotional quality to the performance of the monster. He shared with IGN:

It was a very different situation [than] making ‘Apes’ or something, where I’m playing the character all the way through. But as a consultancy, we worked on the project to see if we could bring some emotional quality to the performance. It’s understanding where that character comes from, the ancient soul awakening from the deep to come back. He basically comes back to try and restore balance to the world.

In a profile for the BBC, director Gareth Edwards further explained what Serkis’s involvement meant for the film. He revealed that Serkis’ role was to help “shape the title character’s emotional arc.” Serkis mostly worked on the facial expressions of the monster, something he was an expert on after starring in numerous such roles. Serkis’ movements were used only in a couple of places in the film.

While Performance Capture Consultant is not a largely recognizable category, Andy Serkis surely deserves an honorary Oscar for his contributions to Mo-cap. His role in Godzilla may have influenced the success of further films in the Monsterverse, as audiences grew emotionally connected to these monsters.

Fantastic Four Star Jamie Bell Praised Andy Serkis’ Involvement In Such Mo-Cap Roles

Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis worked together in The Adventures of Tintin | Paramount
Jamie Bell portrayed The Thing in the 2015 film ‘Fantastic Four,’ drawing inspiration from Andy Serkis’ motion capture performances. Having collaborated with Serkis on ‘King Kong’ and ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’ Bell observed how the actor utilized the technology to craft enduring characters in his movies.

He told Robert Pattinson during an interview for Interview Magazine about how Serkis made Gollum a piece of cinematic history. He shared that the actor truly immerses himself in the mo-cap characters that he played. Bell shared with the Interview Magazine:

I’ve worked with Andy a bunch since we did Tintin together, so I’ve seen how he’s really harnessed this technology and used it to his advantage to create these lasting characters. I mean, I would consider Gollum to be a piece of cinematic history in popular culture, the same way Star Wars characters are. After my experience of seeing him work on Tintin and King Kong, I really saw how he could immerse himself in these characters.

Serkis’s involvement was a big plus for Godzilla, which was praised for its direction and visual effects. The film earned $529 million at the box office (via The Numbers). Godzilla is now available for streaming on Netflix and Max.