'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Behind the Scenes: Give Andy Serkis an Oscar!

A while ago, I got the newest issue of a certain Hollywood magazine in the mail, and attached to it was a big ad with Andy Serkis' face and the words, "It's Time."

This ad was, of course, a rather dramatic way of saying that Andy Serkis, who has provided the best motion capture work in the business for years, deserves an Oscar nomination at the very least. And you know what? I completely, wholeheartedly agree.

For those of you who aren't aware, Serkis was the actor who provided the voice and motion capture for Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (he'll be back for "The Hobbit" too, Preciousessss) and provided the movements for "King Kong." He continued his ape-playing in 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," in which he played the chimp Caesar, who becomes the first superintelligent ape.

In this behind-the-scenes video from the movie, you can see Serkis at work, playing (very convincingly) an ape. His motions, and the emotion on his face, are used as the basis for the eventual CGI character, and in the "after" of this little before and after, you can see how much of his performance is used. This isn't a case of just providing a skeleton for the computer guys to work with to make a character. Serkis is the character.

This year, we're likely to see George Clooney win the oscar for "The Descendants," and that's perfectly fine: he gives a terrific performance. So did Jean DuJardin, and Brad Pitt, and Michael Fassbender. But you show me another guy who can play a character of a different species that convincingly, and I'll stop harping about how Andy Serkis needs to be, at the very least, nominated.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video of Andy Serkis' work below: