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Lord of the Rings' Andy Serkis says he and other filmmakers should embrace AI, and that it will help with CGI characters

“Let’s face it, it’s not going away”: Andy Serkis makes the case for AI

Andy Serkis spends a lot of time around computers.

The award-winning actor is one of Hollywood’s go-to names when it comes to motion capture roles. Using motion capture technology, Serkis has played King Kong, Gollum, Caesar the Ape, Supreme Leader Snoke, and a variety of other CGI characters.

As technology marches on, there is a question over what the rise of AI means for filmmaking and CGI characters. However, Serkis isn’t concerned. Speaking to a crowd at Fan Expo San Francisco 2024, Serkis shared his thoughts on the rise of AI.

“Don’t hate me, I’m interested in using AI in quite an interesting way. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just a prompt that creates a character. It’s completely authored, but then allowing something that’s been designed to then have its own life after that. So, it has the human creativity to drive it from the word 'go' and then move on from that.”

“Let’s face it, it’s not going away,” Serkis continued. “It’s out of the bag, the genie is out of the bottle, and we as creators have to harness it. If you teach AI to be good, and to put good out into the world with AI, then you’re doing something very positive.”

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is expected to hit theaters in 2026. Like previous Lord of the Rings projects, it’s expected to use a lot of CGI. Will Serkis use the film to experiment with AI? It’s hard to say, but with AI on the rise, Hollywood is entering uncharted territory.


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Joshua Lapin-Bertone

Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.

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