Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum‘s director has confirmed the use of AI for one specific purpose. In a recent interview, Andy Serkis discussed the use of machine learning tools in filmmaking and shared his favorite techniques.
How will Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum use AI?
While interacting with Variety, The Hunt for Gollum’s director and Gollum star, Andy Serkis, confirmed the use of AI in the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie. He did not use the machine learning tool to generate or enhance scenes. Instead, he used it for a single purpose: de-aging.
When asked if Serkis had any plans to use AI in the making of The Hunt for Gollum, he stated, “Not at present, other than some of the de-aging. There’s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters, and machine learning is part of the process.”
The 62-year-old went on to talk about the original movie and how they used a program back then as well. “When you think about it, in the original ‘Lord of the Rings’ films, Peter [Jackson] created MASSIVE, which was a program which allowed 1000s of orcs to all have their own individual mindset. So that is a brilliant example of an incredible use of AI.”
Serkis concluded his statement by confirming that no scene in the movie is AI-generated. “But we’re not creating AI shots in our movie; every shot is created in a traditional way. One of the things actually that I really wanted to do with this film was to bring back all of the great filmmaking skills, from miniatures to prosthetics, and marry them up, because that’s my taste. I like it when you mix up different filmmaking techniques.”
AI has now become part of the filmmaking process, as in Young Washington, leaving audiences divided. Andy Serkis is also part of the Young Washington cast. When asked about his views of AI in the period drama, he stated, “I think AI as a creative tool is, as long as it’s not exploitative and as long as it’s not harming anybody or defaming anybody or telling mistruths, is valuable.”
Serkis has not revealed who has been de-aged by AI for The Hunt of Gollum. The movie is currently in production and is slated to release in theaters on December 17, 2027.
