Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis’s 10 Best Movies

Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis has to be given enormous credit.  It isn’t many (if any other) actors who can say they invented an entirely new way to act.  Serkis is the pioneer of motion capture acting, used before in film, but never to deliver the kind of performance the Serkis astounded audiences with when he brought Gollum to the big screen in The Lord of the Rings.  Continuing to develop, pioneer, and teach others in the use of the technique, Serkis went on to embody King Kong, Star Wars enigma Supreme Leader Snoke, and create in Caesar for the new Planet of the Apes trilogy a character that surpassed even Gollum in emotional depth and nuance.  This type of acting is becoming so common that it needs an Oscar category all its own, and Serkis long should have received a special recognition Academy Award for taking technology and using it to enhance acting not mask or diminish it.  He’s one of the most exciting actors that no one gives full credit to, but nearly everyone knows the characters he brings to life, and they’ll live on as long as movies do.

Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the RIngs: The Two Towers
Andy Serkis’s Best 10

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Gollum
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Gollum
3. The Prestige (2006) Alley
4. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) Supreme Leader Snoke
5. Black Panther (2017) Ulysses Klaue
6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Gollum
7. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Caesar
8. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) Caesar
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Ulysses Klaue
10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Caesar
Honorable Mention: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) Supreme Leader Snoke

Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman in The Prestige

Oscars, Golden Globes & Emmys

Oscar Wins (0): None

Oscar Nominations (0): None

Andy Serkis as Casesar in War for the Planet of the Apes

Golden Globe Wins (0): None

Golden Globe Nominations (1): Longford (2009)

Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis in Black Panther

Emmy Wins (0): None

Emmy Nominations (1): Little Dorrit (2008)

Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

My Favorite Serkis Scene:
“Gollum and Smeagol’s Debate” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


Next Film: Andy Serkis’ next will bring his mo-cap acting talents (as well as his direction) to his version of The Jungle Book, in which he both stars as Baloo and directed the film, entitled Mowgli, which will open October 19, 2018.
Andy Serkis in Mowgli

13 thoughts on “Andy Serkis’s 10 Best Movies”

  1. Serkis is definitely the master of motion-capture acting. I look forward to whatever he does next. To quibble with the order of your top 10 a bit, I must say I prefer the Apes movies as a whole, as well as his performances, to the Rings movies. I also find them easily far and away better than any of The Hobbit movies. So my list would likely be an inversion of sorts of yours.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Why put ROTK above TT? TT is where the meat of the performance is. To me he will never top Gollum, because Gollum is one of those characters that only comes around so often.


    Did you ever consider force ghost Snoke? We have not seen a dark sider in the movies in that state, but without Snoke, without Searkis, I realized the villains were terrible.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Sorry of course you do. Not thinking this morning. I really hope he works out as a director, I never saw his first film but if anyone can take the art of mo cap to the next level it’s him.

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  3. I walked out of war for planet of the apes thinking his performance was worthy of an oscar nomination. Truly amazing what he did for Caesar in the whole trilogy.


    Liked by 1 person

    1. I thought he should have been nominated for Dawn and gotten the kind of special Oscar Toy Story did for LOTR. We are nearing a point where a best mocap/voiceover performance category is needed (fortunately I already have one in my film awards here that I do the week before the Oscars)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I disagree, actors who give mo cap performances should just be eligible for the same oscars as any actor. I get that a different skill set is needed for mo cap, and that winning will be an uphill battle (at first) but if you make it its own category it will never be legitimized as actual acting.

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