Twentieth Century Fox Studio chief Tom Rothman once again voiced his intention of giving actor Andy Serkis a push for a Best Supprting Actor Academy Award nomination for hismotion capture performance work in this past summer’s Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter at the Gotham Independent Film Awards on Monday, the studio exec confirmed what had been reported at the beginning of the month.
I think we may be at the place where we will see a first-ever in Hollywood this year, which is to see Andy Serkis get nominated for a best supporting actor for Planet of the Apes, even though his face never actually appears… But his performance appears, so we are going to push that hard.
Serkis has been at the forefront of the motion capture performance wave. His work as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was noted by fans and critics but ignored by the industry at awards time. A similar fate awaited his work on Jackson’s remake of King Kong when he played the titular giant gorilla.
But Roth man thinks that the Academy is smart enough to recognize that the computer generated image placed over a motion captured performance is no different than an actor’s use of costuming or make-up. They just need a little education.
I think part of what we have to do is help educate people to understand that that is 100 percent his performance. It is great emotional acting. Tom Hanks didn’t have to say any dialogue in Castaway for it to be a great performance… The emotionality – what you see and what you feel – he did it. I saw him. I watched him. Then they digitally overlaid – you can think of it as a costume – the skin and the hair of an ape. But I tell you the thing that people felt – and a lot of people where moved when they saw the movie – is because of his performance.
As we head into the awards season, it should be interesting to see how people react.
