Andy Serkis on Animal Farm outrage and Hunt for Gollum AI use
DIRECT ANSWER: Andy Serkis told Variety that bipartisan U.S. outrage over his animated Animal Farm adaptation hurt its North American box office, while confirming The Hunt for Gollum will use AI only for de-aging—not for generating shots. The motion-capture pioneer also said Oscar recognition for performance-capture acting is long overdue.
Speaking from New Zealand while directing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, Serkis opened up about the surreal U.S. reception to his long-gestating Orwell project. The family-friendly film, voiced by Seth Rogen, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin and Woody Harrelson, opens in the U.K. and Ireland on July 24—nearly three months after its troubled U.S. launch.
Key Takeaways
- Serkis said Animal Farm sparked outrage from both the U.S. left and right, drawing roughly 60 million trailer views but failing to bring families to theaters.
- The Hunt for Gollum will use machine learning only for de-aging select returning characters; every shot is being created through traditional filmmaking.
- Serkis argued motion-capture performances deserve Oscar nominations in main acting categories, calling recognition long overdue.
- He maintains AI cannot yet replicate the authored human performance at the heart of motion capture.
Why Did U.S. Audiences React With Outrage to Animal Farm?
Serkis told Variety the backlash was bipartisan. Critics on the left called the film anti-capitalist or too focused on business corruption; critics on the right said it was not anti-communist enough. The first trailer alone drew about 60 million hits—mostly of outrage, Serkis said.
In a separate interview with The Independent, Serkis called the reaction a culture war. Viewers accused him of watering down George Orwell's allegory with fart jokes and a softer ending. He wore a Trump-inspired cap reading Make Animal Farm Fiction Again to the U.S. premiere in April.
Serkis defended the adaptation as a more accessible version of Orwell's cautionary tale, developed with estate approval. The debate succeeded, he said, but it did not encourage parents to bring children to cinemas. For the U.K. rollout, his team is adjusting marketing to sidestep online vitriol.
How Will The Hunt for Gollum Use AI?
Serkis confirmed limited AI use on the Warner Bros. film, due December 17, 2027. "Not at present, other than some of the de-aging," he told Variety. "There's a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process."
He stressed that no scene is AI-generated. "Every shot is created in a traditional way," blending miniatures, prosthetics and other classic techniques. Serkis pointed to Peter Jackson's MASSIVE software from the original trilogy as an earlier example of productive machine learning in Middle-earth filmmaking.
As reported by IGN, Serkis did not name which cast members would be de-aged. Returning stars include Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Lee Pace. Serkis also directs and reprises Gollum in the production now underway in New Zealand.
Should Motion Capture Performances Get Oscar Recognition?
Serkis has spent decades arguing that dots-and-sensors acting is real acting. "I have never seen performance capture as anything other than an actor's performance," he told Variety, because you are doing everything you would do to create a normal character on screen.
Asked whether the Academy should nominate motion-capture work in main categories, he replied: "Yeah, absolutely. I really do. I think it's been a long time coming and have never thought any differently." He added that AI cannot yet replace the minutiae of actors' decisions that author their characters.
From Gollum to Caesar, Serkis helped define the form. His latest comments arrive as he balances legacy franchise work with a polarizing literary adaptation—one of the biggest celebrity breaking news stories in film this summer.