There’s more to Andy Serkis than motion-captured apes and a ring-obsessed Gollum. The gifted actor has been spending his down time serving as a second-unit director on Peter Jackson’s two-part Hobbit epic. Now he’s parlaying that experience into a full-time gig.
In a Screen Daily story about the formation of production house STS – backed by British producer Sam Tromans and sales exec Simon Barnes – the site reports that one one of the projects on the new company’s slate is a passion project for Serkis to direct. “It’s a fantastic script with a great female role,” said Tromans, who described it as “The English Patient up a mountain.”
I’m not exactly sure what that means. And it really doesn’t sound like Freezing Time, a feature IMDB lists as Serkis’ potential directorial debut. That story centers on pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge … though if there’s a love story to be told, then that could fit the definition Tromans gave us in the above paragraph.
Truthfully, I’d just be curious to see what Serkis can do behind the camera. He has been studying under true masters for decades, working closely with Jackson, Steven Spielberg (The Adventures of Tintin), Christopher Nolan (The Prestige), and Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy). And Serkis comes off as one of those talents who’d act like a sponge on a movie set, absorbing as much knowledge and as many tricks as one possibly could. That doesn’t always translate into a successful filmmaker, but I’m very excited to hear that Serkis is going to be given the opportunity to try. Aren’t you?
