Andy Serkis has more than 50 roles to his credit, including performances on Masterpiece Theater and in several popular British miniseries. But even while doing interviews to promote “13 Going on 30,” somehow it seemed Gollum was still lurking in the shadows. After a few questions about his role as Jennifer Garner’s boss and his own childhood memories, the questions turned to “Lord of the Rings” and the possibility of reuniting with Peter Jackson for “King Kong.”
INTERVIEW WITH ANDY SERKIS ('Richard'):
It’s been a while since we’ve seen you in anything other than “Lord of the Rings.”
It’s not that long because, although I was obviously doing “Lord of the Rings” for the last five years, I managed to get away and do a few films during that time. One was “24 Hour Party People,” the Michael Winterbottom film. One was “Deathwatch,” which was a horror movie I did with Jamie Bell in Prague. This was like the first one that was going to come out immediately after “Return of the King.” Obviously, “Return of the King” – I get to see myself for a few minutes at the beginning of that.
Where were you on Oscar night?
They only had a few tickets for the actual ceremony, so the four Hobbits went. I’d been the previous year so I think they were sharing who actually attended the ceremony. But we all went to the New Line Viewing Party at the Pacific Design Center and then went off to a party after that.
Getting to your new movie, "13 Going on 30," what do you remember about being 13?
At 13 I remember being two things: one, being kind of confused and not being centered at all and being a watcher of things and being sort of outside of everything, and trying things out and experimenting – and then failing miserably and rushing back to try something else. But then also, I think, I was slightly out of my time. I think this is a good movie for me because I always felt like I belonged in a different era. I have three older sisters so I was listening to their music then. I was listening to Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens, slightly out of my thing. But also I was into jazz and I played tenor sax so I was also harping back to the 50s and 60s bebop. I seemed to be not really in the moment.
Do you have an incident from your teens you’d like to do over?
Thousands of them. I remember the first time I fell for a woman. I had a brand new racing bike, which I sold for a train ticket to Scotland. When I got there she didn’t want to know [me]. So I had to return with my tail between my legs. It was a disaster.
How did you develop the relationship between you and Jennifer Garner, based on the idea that the day before she becomes 30, she’s much more mature and aggressive? Did you two talk about that?
We didn’t, actually, because I felt it was necessary to not know anything about anything to do with her character. I could just take her on face value and think she’s acting a bit strange, which is exactly how it would be for them.
[Richard's] going through his own stuff. He’s being squished by corporate and he’s got the pressure of the magazine going down. I went and worked at LA Magazine and really got to know how that structure worked, and what his job would be. As an editor-in-chief in New York, I kind of felt that he was more on show there, that he was a slight celebrity and was very, very scared of people looking at the magazine and kind of watching it go down the chute. I was really concentrating on him becoming more and more cranked up and self-obsessed and like a ramrod, like a tightly coiled spring. His paranoia is building, really. But I mean, the fact is what she actually does is make him connect with why he wanted to do what he does. I would believe that Richard, as an editor, would be someone who believed he was selling with grace and that whatever he was going to do, he was going to do with charm and art and poise. He’s a theatrical person who would have brought that to the magazine, but now that the stress is on, now the pressure is on, he can’t see that through the trees.
PAGE 2: Andy Serkis on Dance Moves, Jennifer Garner, and Gollum
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Interview with Jennifer Garner
Mark Ruffalo Interview
"13 Going on 30" Photos, Trailer, and Credits
