Deadline reports that motion-capture actor extraordinaire Andy Serkis has signed on for a sequel to this year’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel/re-imagining of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes.
None of us expected the film to be as good as it was, and it turned out to be one of the best films of the year. The Fox release was not only an amazing special effects achievement, but a gripping and emotionally engaging blockbuster to boot. Taking a $453 million worldwide gross, a sequel became inevitable, and while director Rupert Wyatt was already signed on for any sequels, Fox locked in the real star of the film, Andy Serkis playing the ape Caesar, for a seven-figure sum.
Serkis has made a name for himself over the last few years acting through the digital puppetry of motion capture, or Mo Cap. Serkis came to prominence using this technique as the creature Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and returned to work with director Peter Jackson as the title character in King Kong. He has recently been seen in the flesh in Burke & Hare, giving us more Mo Cap in the animated The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and is working as a second unit director on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, where he will also reprise his role as Gollum.
Fox is now campaigning for Serkis’ performance as Caesar to be considered for an Academy Award.
Other confirmed crew include screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, producing with Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark.
