While Peter Jackson is hammering it out with Warner Bros. on turning The Hobbit into its own trilogy of films based upon the rich material of the LOTR appendices that J.R.R. Tolkien had meant to incorporate into The Hobbit, let’s take a look at the remarkable CGI character from the Lord of the Rings trilogy that blew our socks off.
It has been eleven years since the first installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Fellowship of the Ring, came out and Gollum is still a sight to behold. Everything about him made you believe that Gollum was a real and living creature – his movements and expressions as performed by Andy Serkis were captured by multiple cameras through tracking key reference points on a motion capture suit. Gollum is remarkable and remains so in these upcoming Hobbit films. These stills below are from Empire’s September issue via E!Online and they show again the technology behind capturing Serkis’s performance to be rendered into the CGI Gollum.
Synopsis:
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities… A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is slated to hit theaters on December 14, 2012.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again is slated to hit theaters on December 13, 2013.
The films star Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner , Graham McTavish, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Ian Holm, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Conan Stevens, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Barry Humphries and Benedict Cumberbatch.
