Andy Serkis Quotes

I think acting really helps as a director. It's just no question, because you totally understand the acting process.

Our family were outsiders, and I've always had a sense of the outsider, the underdog, and a strong sense of justice towards people who are excluded.

I think I spend most of my time not living in reality, actually.

I think I have a lot of internal energy, which does need to come out.

Nowadays, there's no such thing as a stable job.

I wanted to be a painter, really, when I was growing up as a kid. It was one thing that really took a grip on me.

Gollum's never really gone too far away from me because he's indelibly kind of printed into my DNA now, I think.

As soon as you do it, actors realize there is no difference playing a performance-captured role or a live-action role.

When we, as humans, articulate, our tongues tend to hit the back of the teeth.

Gollum is my picture of Dorian Gray. He will be with me for the rest of life, and I will grow to look more like him as I get older.

I do listen to myself sometimes and think, 'Is my moral compass so easily swayed by the characters I play, or is it me growing as a human being?'

Mountaineering has always been a huge hobby of mine.

Both my parents are Catholic and staunch believers. I'm not a Catholic now, but I still carry part of it with me.

J.J. Abrams is an all-time hero of mine, really lovely to be working with him.

I love the ability to transform because that, for me, is a liberation.

For me, I've never drawn a distinction between live-action acting and performance-capture acting. It is purely a technology.

You'll very rarely find that you can enhance a performance to give it a real emotional centre and truth ... after the fact.

Any sort of role requires a certain amount of research and embodiment of the character and psychological investigation.

Gollum has a weak personality and isn't able to cope with the power of the ring.

Gollum is Gollum - though in 'Lord of the Rings' he's 600 years old and in 'The Hobbit' he's 540, so he looks a little bit more handsome.

Working from home is so, so hard because I want to be present for them and yet there's so much to do work-wise. That's the biggest challenge for me.

Performance capture is a technology, not a genre; it's just another way of recording an actor's performance.

I play saxophone, I play tenor sax.

I had a cat called Dizz, after Dizzy Gillespie.

I want to link together ancient forms of storytelling and the future.

Britain has enormous amount of talent, as we've seen from the BAFTAs. It's all here, and it has to be allowed to flourish.

I'd like to think that we strive in film and theatre to tell great stories, and I believe in the power of storytelling in our culture.

I have a road bike and a mountain bike, and I tend to use them both a lot. They help you keep your balance and your stamina.

The thing is, I don't just take roles because they're performance capture.

Second films are, you know, like 'difficult second albums', so it's a tricky position to be in but I think he's made a highly accomplished film.

It has been great portraying Gollum, but it will be great to see my face on screen for a change.

Be magnificent. Life's short. Get out there. You can do it. Everyone can do it. Everyone.

Performance capture is a tool that young actors will need in the next 10, 20 years. It's on the increase, as you say. It's not going away.

Performance capture, for me, is finding the essence of a performance.

I am a bit evangelical, I know, but performance-capture is still misunderstood.

Gorilla tourism is vital to Rwanda's economy: It's the third highest source of income.

J.J. Abrams and I met, and we just had this incredible kind of vibe between us.

Just being an ape is a workout.

There's a huge gulf between people who can afford to go to drama school and those who can't.

Working with and collaborating with and for Peter Jackson was an incredible experience because he is such a phenomenal filmmaker.

I believe that when people experience an event as a community, it can transcend and change people's lives.

The great thing about performance capture is you can go off, and then, without changing costume, you can become another character.

The whole chameleon thing about acting. That's why I'm moving towards directing - it's a much more healthy occupation.

35mm film isn't ticking away so it's subconscious - performances are allowed to breathe in a much more real way I think.

My livelihood depends on the art of animators.

I'd already started directing short films when we were doing 'Lord of the Rings,' then videogame projects.

People used to say, 'Andy Serkis lent his movements to Gollum,' and now they say, 'Andy Serkis played Caesar.' That's a significant leap.

I'm definitely moving more towards directing now.

Before I became an actor, I was a visual artist, and I've always hankered for the storytelling behind the camera.

I do have anger management issues. Not clinical. Probably no more than most people.

I had a body wax. It's the most painful thing I have ever done in my life. I had every single hair on my body pulled out, and I really bruised.

Looking back, when I was Gollum, I suppose I did break the mold to a certain extent. I'm proud, and very thrilled, to be a part of that.

An actor finds things in the moment with a director and other actors that you don't have time to hand-draw or animate with a computer.

I've been on stage and been an actor for many years and used different mediums.

Games aren't going to go away. BAFTA's got a category for games as an art form. The Academy should think about that, too.

You can't just come up with an idea for a game and stick the drama on top. It all has to be one driving thrust.

Actors' performances do not stand alone in any film, live action or whatever.

'Macbeth' is an amazing story.

Having done a lot of theater, I'm used to sustaining characters over long periods of time.

I guess I just tend to feel at home wherever I go.

I think I'd like to be a lion tamer, actually. That - that would provide the most audience entertainment if something went really badly.

I think my mum wanted me to join the army or something, or become a surveyor - something with good career prospects.

You don't really think about 3D when you're acting. As a director, you do.

Playing a character in a video game is different to other performances because your character can't lead the audience of players in one direction.

The learning curve is 'The Hobbit' is being shot in 3D.

If it was a great script and a great character, I would love to do a romantic comedy.

Acting is a sort of pressure cooker that allows the fizz to come out the top. God knows what I'd be like if I didn't have that.

I'm a shockingly bad sleeper. In bed very late. Awake at the crack of dawn.

I expect at some point I'll probably want to go back on stage and do some theater, because I've not done theater in 10 years.

Thank God for Skype!

As long as you have the acting chops and the desire to get inside a character, you can play anything.

I think parenting is very different now. We're totally governed by our children!

Middle-earth is a universe I know very well.

As I started to research gorillas, I began to understand that they're all totally individual and idiosyncratic, and they have their own personalities.

A lot of people have asked me to do answer phone messages for them.

The fact of the matter is I have done so many parts.

I think when actors run away from their work that they're slightly crazy, really!

My father was interested in justice, always working for people who needed to be supported.

I've been writing and wanting to direct for a long time.

I grew up with 'Star Wars' and was a massive fan of the original films.

You never really know why you become an actor: it's a visceral thing, an emotional thing.

On 'The Avengers,' I've been working closely with Mark Ruffalo.

I don't want to play a voice.

It was a fairly happy childhood. My father was working away, and my mum brought up five kids all on her own.

I love acting and certainly won't give it up, but it's part of a bigger canvas for me now.

'How To Train your Dragon 2' is an amazing film. I think it's an extraordinary film. The animation in it is fantastic.

I think that Gollum is really the character who is a very human character, and he's very flawed, like most humans are, and has good and bad sides.

Certain gorillas are more evolved than certain human beings I know.

I've always been really in touch with my primal instincts. In my profession, you have to be.

When you have children, you realize that at the end, it's all about passing on, about handing down.

I do love nature, but I don't suppose I'd spent more time in zoos as a child than anyone else!

What's fantastic is that there's a real growing appreciation for performance-capture technology as a tool for acting.