When Men in Mo-Cap Suits Attack
I’m still not sure how good Rise of the Planet of the Apes will be when it opens this weekend, but I do know this — if it’s not good, it won’t be Andy Serkis’ fault. Whether he’s playing Gollum or a monkey, whether he gets to wear actual clothes (rare) or a motion capture suit with a camera hanging six inches away from his face (far more frequent), the man is one hell of an actor. So I highly recommend watching this RotPotA behind-the-scenes SFX reel not just to see dozens of actors in mo-cap suits rampaging on the Golden Gate bridge, or to see all the shit Weta norrmally does, but to see Andy Serkis do his thing — namely, being incredibly ape-like. The man knows his monkeys, that’s for sure. (Via First Showing)
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.