10 Best Motion Capture Performances
2. Andy Serkis As Gollum/Smeagol (Middle Earth Franchise)
The brilliance behind this dual performance saw motion-capture performances as legitimate film performances and works of art. Andy Serkis elevated the corrupted Hobbit through a performance that was a masterclass combination of being jittery, sympathetic, threatening and scared all at the time.
Motion capture technology was in its infancy at this time and as a result, key elements such as facial dots and in-studio acting were still a few years out. However, the limitations of the day did not stop Serkis, Peter Jackson and the capable team of WETA Digital from bringing Gollum to life. The VFX team pushed the envelope in creating a palpable character and Serkis gave him idiosyncratic movements and conversational tics that are fodder for many impressionists to this day.
Serkis was able to bring his A-game to the Hobbit trilogy and never missed a step in his performance, even when the rest of the films faltered in a variety of ways.