Andy Serkis Says Gollum Is Keeping Him Up At Night: “It Has Been Insane”

Andy Serkis opened up recently about returning to the character that made him famous. Serkis not only plays Gollum again in the upcoming The Hunt for Gollum, he’s directing the film.

In a new interview with the Times, he held forth on the challenge of reviving his fan-favorite Lord of the Rings character, and the toll it took.

“I’ve just lived with Gollum for such a long period. I’m a terrible sleeper. My mind is pretty active, and it has been insane going back to the character I started playing 26 years ago, and so I’m waking up at night,” the actor revealed. “Actually, I don’t know if I’m asleep or awake, but I think, Am I directing you, Gollum? Or you me? Are we arguing?’ My mind is…busy.”

Earlier this week in an interview promoting his new book My Pressures, Serkis spoke about how a character changes the actor who inhabits them.

“I’ve always believed and I still do believe that you’re always altered by the characters that you played as an actor, that you learn something either about yourself or the world that changes your worldview.

“I think you are kind of chemically changed in some way. You are tricking your body and your mind and your head and your psyche to fit this other being.”

He then added a thought that jives with his take on returning to the LOTR creature: “Sometimes decompressing from a character can take a long time.”

In the case of Gollum, that process may never be complete.

“I don’t suspect that Gollum will ever leave me, quite frankly,” he said.