Andy Serkis has addressed issues of diversity in his new Lord Of The Rings film, The Hunt For Gollum.
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The new movie is set before 2001’s The Fellowship Of The Ring, and sees Serkis reprise the role of Gollum, as well as directing the film. Due out in 2027, the film stars original cast members Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood join newcomers Jamie Dornan, Kate Winslet, and Anya Taylor-Joy. As yet, there are no non-white actors announced for the blockbuster.
It continues a running criticism of both the Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit trilogies, which featured predominantly white casts. Speaking to BBC News, Serkis addressed the issue.
“[Author J.R.R.] Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling.” he said. “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know… They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.”
He continued: “Yes, there have been criticisms [about diversity]. This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But we don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it’s only where relevant basically.”
Earlier in the interview, the star also teased what fans can expect from the movie. “It sits absolutely between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, and books in fact,” he explained. “It is very much a deep dive into the psychology and history of Gollum before he became Gollum, but also with a very burning question from Gandalf about what the potential origin of this ring that Bilbo Baggins has is. The hunt takes place in two different dimensions really and that’s about as far as I can say at the moment.”
As well as The Hunt For Gollum, another spin-off, Shadow Of The Past, is being co-written by Stephen Colbert. Elsewhere, original trilogy director Peter Jackson revealed he was in talks to adapt Tolkein’s book The Silmarillion.
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