One of the biggest mysteries to spin-off from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer revolved around the voiceover. Namely, who the heck is it? Once the man behind that sinister tone was identified as none other than Mr. Mo-Cap, Andy Serkis, the rumour mill continued to churn out further speculation.
First up, we heard from Jedi News that the talented thesp would be tackling not one, but two major roles in the anticipated sci-fi spectacle. As exciting a prospect as that was – because Serkis is a phenomenal performer in every aspect – it seems it could have been a load of tripe.
In an interview with EW (via Collider), the actor addressed the rumours that he’d be turning in a performance-capture bit along with a live-action role:
“No that’s not true at all. I can say I only play one character.”
So, now that we know officially that Serkis will be playing but one role – who is it? Have we seen him in the trailer? Fear not, because Serkis addressed those concerns when addressing the nature of his voiceover. Specifically, is he in character? And what’s he like?
“That is the character,” Serkis says, adding that the gravelly, ominous voice is entirely organic. “There’s no digital manipulation. That’s just me.”
“I have to be very careful about how I answer these questions. The character …” he says, followed by a long pause. “He’s been through some stuff.”
He goes on to say that he’s contractually bound to not reveal any more details on the topic. When pressed for the specifics of his character – live-action or mo-cap? – he smiled and said he couldn’t embellish. So, to round up what we’ve learned today: we might not know who he’s playing, or how he’ll be playing them, but we do know that it’s only one character. We’d also hazard a guess and say that he’ll be mo-cappin’ it for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, don’t you think?
