Andy Serkis Has 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Role; Talks 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

The gold standard by which all performance capture is measured is basically one man: Andy Serkis, and after redefining the entire process through his work on Lord of the Rings, The Adventures of Tintin and more, he's got even bigger projects on the way. Later this summer he'll return as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and he was recently announced as part of the Star Wars: Episode VII cast in presumably another mo-capped role. But in an interview with Variety he also reveals his involvement in Avengers: Age of Ultron, working alongside Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk.

Serkis gave this response when asked about his participation in both movies....

Serkis: "The Imaginarium is the performance capture consultant, and I’m playing a role (in both films). On ‘The Avengers,’ I’ve been working closely with Mark Ruffalo."

The Imaginarium is  the studio he co-founded that does consultation on performance capture movies, using his expertise to advance the art form.  When asked if we we would see his face on screen, Serkis was understandably non-committal...

Serkis: "I’m not at liberty to mention. But it’s all the same to me. I’ve never drawn a distinction when playing a role, whether it be live action or performance capture. Acting is acting. It’s just basically what you wear to the set that’s different."

Probably not then. Those same questions are being asked about his role in Star Wars: Episode VII, with most assuming he'll be unrecognizable as a motion-captured alien creature. But it sounds like he'll be plenty busy helping J.J. Abrams both behind the camera and in front of it. Here's what he told the folks at SciFiNow [via ThePlaylist]...

“JJ Abrams and I met, and we just had this incredible kind of vibe between us. He said, ‘You’d fit really well in this universe,’ and I said, ‘I think I probably could.’ We’re working very closely, as I say, in two ways: the Imaginarium is providing all of the performance characters, and I myself am playing a character in it."

He doesn't come right out and say he's doing performance capture but that's what it sounds like. Maybe he can play a CGI version of Harrison Ford and help speed along production?  Star Wars: Episode VII opens December 18th 2015, and Avengers: Age of Ultron on May 1st 2015.