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• Andy Serkis says Peter Jackson let him direct the Smeagol and Deagol scene in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Andy Serkis may have one of the most interesting resumes in Hollywood. He’s been Gollum, Alfred Pennyworth, King Kong, and Supreme Leader Snoke. He’s also a filmmaker in his own right, with directing credits on Breathe, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and the upcoming Lord of the Rings film The Hunt for Gollum.

Although he was primarily known for his acting and motion capture work, directing has always been one of Serkis’s passions. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson knew this and helped nurture Serkis’s directing career.

“Peter has been so loyal,” Andy Serkis says during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “He saw very early on while we were making Lord of the Rings that I wanted to direct. He knew that I wanted to direct. In fact, some of the scenes on Lord of the Rings, I actually directed the Gollum and Smeagol scene.”

“In Return of the King, where Smeagol and Deagol fight. One day Fran Walsh, who was going to be directing, and Pete was directing another unit, and that didn’t happen. And so, Pete said, ‘Will you direct the scene.’ He had seen a short film that I had made, and he just knew that I wanted to direct.”

Jackson would go on to make Serkis a second unit director on The Hobbit trilogy. The Hunt for Gollum is the next film in the Middle-earth saga, and this time around it will be directed by Serkis. Maybe Serkis will let Jackson do second unit directing on a scene as a favor. It would be a fun way to bring things full circle.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.