“The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” will de-age actors using AI, the actor and director Andy Serkis confirmed to Variety.
“There’s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process,” Serkis, who is both directing the new film and reprising his famous role as Gollum, told Variety.
AI is an incredibly contentious topic in Hollywood. Some studios, like A24, have leaned into generative AI. Others in the industry, from actors to directors and writers, have lambasted the tech, with many fearing that AI will be used to replace industry jobs or simply result in lower-quality work. As the tension between the pro-AI and anti-AI — or perhaps AI-resigned — factions deepen, the industry and its leaders, Serkis included, are publicly grappling with the technology and what it means for a key creative industry.
In addition to Serkis, returning actors from past films include Elijah Wood as Frodo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Lee Pace as Thranduil — all of whom are markedly older than when the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the prequel franchise “The Hobbit” were filmed. Beyond de-aging, though, Serkis said that “at present,” there are no other plans to use AI in the making of the new movie.
