Fans of Middle-earth can look forward to The Hunt for Gollum, a new movie from the universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. Director Andy Serkis now explains how AI plays a role in the shoot and how he wants to revive the strengths of Peter Jackson’s trilogy.
The Hunt for Gollum, likely titled The Hunt for Gollum, is an upcoming movie that tells the story of what happens to the titular character after he loses the ring to Bilbo. Gandalf sends Aragorn to find Gollum before Sauron can, as he might gain important information about the new ring bearer.
Directed by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the original trilogy. In an interview with Variety, he talked about working on the film when the big and contentious topic of AI came up. Serkis has a clear opinion on its use in creative work.
AI as a Helper, but with Limits
What role does AI play in the film? Serkis explained that the use of AI in The Hunt for Gollum has a clear framework. It is used to digitally de-age characters. For this, machine learning is applied.
That in itself is nothing new. This technique has been used in some other films to make actors appear a few years younger. However, the results were often not entirely convincing and turned out to be a significant problem.
Looking at films like Terminator Genisys (2015), Star Wars: Rogue One (2016), or Gemini Man (2019), it becomes clear: If the de-aging is not perfectly executed, the “Uncanny Valley” phenomenon quickly arises. The result evokes discomfort and irritation because we viewers notice that the shown figure does not look entirely human, yet comes close.
Engaging with the character and feeling empathy can be made more difficult as a result. It pulls us out of the film’s immersion, which can be a real problem. However, several years have passed since the mentioned examples. Perhaps the technique has now advanced and can deliver a satisfactory result.
However, in the interview with Variety, Serkis also pointed out that artificial intelligence has already been used in the Middle-earth films in the past:
In the original Lord of the Rings films, Peter [Jackson] developed MASSIVE, a program that gave thousands of orcs their individual thought processes. This is a brilliant example of incredible AI use. But we are not creating AI-generated scenes in our film; every shot is created in the traditional way.
Serkis emphasized that it was particularly important to him to combine various cinematic techniques. That’s why miniatures, such as buildings, and prosthetics are also used. These practical effects, which do not originate from the computer, are partly the reason the Lord of the Rings trilogy still looks very good today. The Hobbit films, which rely much more on visual effects, already fall behind.
Or what do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Andy Serkis further emphasizes that AI is a valuable creative tool as long as it is not exploited or used harmfully. He concludes, “We are the parents of AI and must be good parents and teach it well. And if we teach AI well, it can help us in many industries.” The film about Gollum has already been made once, but not by Hollywood: 15 years ago, fans shot a Gollum film for under 4,000 euros, and now Hollywood is following suit, borrowing the idea and title
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!