“But who is it?”
Taylor asked, looking excited, as if she was curious who the actor would be for the motion capture.
I had thought through the answer countless times too, but no matter how I looked at it, there was only one right answer.
“Andrew Sakil.”
“…Pardon? The actor who played Gollum in <The Lord of the Rings>? You’re saying you’re going to use that actor?”
“Yes.”
At my words, Taylor rested her chin on her hand and seemed to sink into deep thought.
“But I can’t say there were no issues with his acting either…”
“There weren’t. That’s why I thought it was a problem with the CG staff.”
Andrew Sakil.
The phrase that described him was “the number one in motion capture acting.”
From Gollum in <The Lord of the Rings>, to the chimpanzee ‘Caesar’ in the novel based film reboot trilogy <Planet of the Apes>, and finally <King Kong>.
His movements and expressions seeped fully into the character.
The last puzzle piece to raise my film’s level of completion was his motion capture acting.
“I’m sure there are good actors in Korea too. Do we really need to spend the money it would take to cast him?”
“At the very least, there isn’t anyone as certain as him.”
“But it hasn’t been proven. To go that far…”
“I’ve got good instincts. I already asked the casting manager, so we’ll hear back soon.”
“…”
Taylor stared at me with a look that said she could not understand, then shook her head.
“If you’re insisting that much, Director, then you must have a reason. All right, then I’ll start by creating the Selene species that you sketched out.”
A few days later.
London, England.
Andrew lightly ignored the email that had arrived a few days ago.
It was absurd. Korea, out of nowhere?
Korea was the place where the action actor Robert Sigal had gone to shoot films, throwing away every shred of pride he had as an actor just to make a few bucks.
The moment he saw the email, his hands trembling at the thought that going there would end his acting life completely, Andrew replied with every curse he could think of.
[If you’re going to scam someone, scam the rich, you XXXs. I don’t have money! I don’t even have money to go to Korea, you XXXs!]
But no reply came back to that profanity.
“Phew…”
Waiting backstage for the performance, Andrew’s focus wavered as the email from Korea resurfaced in his mind, and he took a deep breath, reviewing his lines.
He had stood on the stage countless times, but back when he left this place for Hollywood in America, he had never thought he would return here again.
But in the end, he had returned to the London stage.
Here, he was a turncoat, a Gollum.
Holding back the irritation that crept up on him, Andrew immersed himself again in the role of Romeo’s father.
To play Romeo’s father, he went on stage with wrinkles painted on his face and a white wig on his head.
“How can I soothe my child’s sorrow? How can it be the duty of a father to stand by and watch his child fall into despair!”
After delivering a few lines, he slipped back offstage, letting out a sigh.
Then the young actor playing Romeo behind him spoke, teasing him.
“Senior Gollum. You really are made for the stage. Don’t go to some place like Hollywood and end up humiliated…”
“Shut up.”
Andrew cut him off with a frown.
“Hey, senior, you don’t remember when you went to Hollywood auditions? Back then you were so excited, talking about the Gollum role, and now why are you suddenly so pissed?”
The young actor mocked Andrew in a sneering voice.
The teasing that never stopped after <The Lord of the Rings> premiered.
But if he beat up the actor playing Romeo here, he would probably get kicked out of this troupe too, so Andrew clenched his teeth and endured it.
“Smeagol. Smeagol. Let’s kill those hobbits and take the ring.”
Imitating even Gollum’s voice and mannerisms, the young actor drew laughter from the actors around them.
“Stop it.”
“What, and what are you gonna do? Hah, senior. You should be grateful they even took you back into this troupe. The director said you used to want to play Romeo when you were young? With that face? Hah, seriously.”
The young actor playing Romeo was, by anyone’s standards, a handsome man with a warm, clean image.
In contrast, Andrew’s face was plain, too plain.
An actor’s job is to leave a clear impression on the audience.
If you are handsome or ugly, you can grab people’s eyes somehow, but if you are neither, you need some distinctive charm that can still catch people.
Andrew had none of that.
If he had one strength at all, it was his varied voice.
But for an actor, not a voice actor, that kind of voice was not much of an advantage.
Actors who caught the eye were valued more, even if their voices were not good, than actors with good voices who looked ordinary.
“Since it’s come to this, just quit acting. If you want to be an actor that badly, then just play Gollum. Gollum. Gol—”
Smack!
Unable to endure it any longer, Andrew drove a fist into the young actor’s face, and the actor cried out and stumbled backward.
“Agh! You crazy—”
Andrew could not hold back his anger in that moment.
Months of sneering he had endured.
If he kept enduring, it felt like he would go insane instead, so he did it.
“Say it again.”
“You hit me? You bastard…”
The young actor swung a punch, but he staggered and fell over, and Andrew drove a precise kick into the fallen actor’s stomach as he said,
“Go on stage in that state. You filthy son of a bitch. Spit. This is my last lesson.”
After throwing the wig at the young actor and even spitting on him, Andrew walked straight out of the venue.
The filthy English weather.
As if the mood demanded it, it was raining too, and the heavy makeup on Andrew’s face washed down with the rain.
“Andrew, you bastard! You! If you leave like this, you’ll get nothing! You Gollum bastard, when we took you back you were on your knees crying and begging. You’ve gotten way too full of yourself!”
The director’s scolding shouted from behind.
“I’m done. You think I became an actor to be treated like this?”
“What? You bastard— You think we’ll take you back if you come crawling back?”
“I’m not coming back! Use today’s pay to cover that Romeo bastard’s medical bills. Hrk. Spit!”
Andrew spat right out in front of the theater and walked farther and farther away from the entrance.
Then he spotted an East Asian man standing there under an umbrella, staring blankly.
The man looked at Andrew with eyes full of curiosity.
“What, you here to watch? What are you looking at? Never seen a stage actor with his makeup washed off by rain before?”
“N-No.”
The East Asian man looked at Andrew with an awkward smile.
Andrew brushed past that smile and headed for his car, but then, feeling bad as if he had taken his anger out on an innocent person, he got out again.
And to the East Asian man still standing there, blankly in the same spot, he said,
“Go on in and enjoy the play. I was sorry about that. But you won’t be seeing Romeo.”
Andrew snorted at his own words, gave a little nod of greeting, and turned away.
Then the East Asian man spoke.
“Then… could I ask you for a cup of tea?”
“What?”
Andrew asked, looking at him.
“I’m not that sorry. Just because I said one wrong thing, do I have to treat you too?”
“There’s something I need to tell you. I came from Korea. Haha. Your email had some pretty interesting words in it.”
At the word “Korea,” Andrew looked at him for a moment.
“Huh? Then… you were the one who sent that email?”
“Ah, my casting manager sent it.”
Andrew studied the man closely, then asked again.
“Are you an actor?”
“No. I’m a film director. My name is Gyeong Chanhyeon.”
At the man’s words, Andrew blinked.
“Do you know what my previous work was?”
“<The Lord of the Rings>.”
“Someone who knows that came all the way from Korea to pick me up? What, are you trying to run some international scam?”
Irritated, Andrew stomped through the rainwater pooled on the ground, went back to his car, and started the ignition.
Then that handsome East Asian man tapped on his car window.
Andrew rolled the window down and snapped at him.
“Go away. I’m not going to associate with scammers. And I’m not acting anymore—”
Thud.
Before Andrew could even finish, the man tossed a heavy looking bag into the car.
“My business card and the films I made are in there. And the contract terms as well. If you get curious, contact me. I’ll wait until tomorrow, exactly.”
“…”
Something about his eyes, like he already knew the answer, made Andrew feel even worse.
“If you’re done talking, then get lost.”
“Yes. Have a good day.”
“A good day, my ass.”
Andrew grumbled and tried the ignition again.
Vrrr— vrrr— click! Bang.
But the car did not start, only made all kinds of strange noises, and still would not turn over.
Black smoke even began rising from the hood.
“Damn it.”
Andrew opened the hood in the pouring rain.
Inside were scraps of paper covered in mocking words.
[Failed Gollum from Hollywood. Get out of England. England’s shame.]
[Are you an actor? You’re a computer. A guy who couldn’t even show his face in his Hollywood debut as a supporting role.]
“Hah… these vermin bastards…”
The skin under Andrew’s eyes twitched.
And in his pocket, he barely had enough for a taxi.
Seeing the East Asian man waiting for a taxi ahead, Andrew let out a deep sigh, grabbed the bag the man had thrown into the car, and walked over to him.
“Hey. Mr. Film Director.”
The director looked at Andrew, as if puzzled, and asked,
“Yes?”
“Let’s go to my place together. I’ll treat you to a cup of tea.”
“…?”
When the man just blinked silently, Andrew said irritably,
“I said I’m treating you to tea.”
“Ah, yes. Let’s do that.”
After hearing that Andrew would not even read the casting manager’s email, I flew to England immediately.
He looked far worse than I had expected.
Seeing him get thrown out of the theater the moment I arrived was beyond pathetic, to the point it was almost painful to watch.
Gollum in <The Lord of the Rings>, which had been the miraculous start of his acting career, had become his greatest black mark.
“What are you looking at so much?”
“Haha, yes.”
And especially the way he was so sharp.
It was my first time meeting him, so I did not know what his personality was really like, but in things like behind the scenes footage, he looked fairly gentle.
But there was not even a speck of gentleness to be found in him now.
“Hey. Taxi. We get out here. Take the money from this Asian guy.”
“Yes, thank you, sir!”
After paying the driver and getting out, I could see all kinds of graffiti in red letters on Andrew’s shabby trailer.
[England’s shame as an actor.]
[Gollum! Gollum! Get out of England.]
[America’s slave Gollum. Why did you come back to England?]
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come in.”
When I entered his trailer, a musty smell stabbed at my nose.
But it seemed like a familiar smell to him. He did not react at all as he took out teacups from a shelf.
“What tea do you want? Well, it’s only black tea, though.”
“Then black tea, please.”
Andrew scooped tea leaves into the cup with a spoon that looked like it might have mold on it, then poured in hot water.
“Drink. And then get the hell out.”
“Pardon?”
“I told you, I don’t talk to damn scammers.”
Andrew sank into a sagging sofa. Then he tossed his rain soaked socks off to the side, anywhere.
But behind him, I caught sight of something bright.
A photo with his family.
In that photo, he was smiling brightly with his wife and daughters.
“I’m not a scammer.”
At my words, Andrew frowned.
“You said you do movies. Movie bastards are all scammers. Drink that, and get out.”
T/N: Remember this is a work of fiction and that the author may change certain names, etc. The real actor that played Gollum was Andy Serkis, but in the text it translates to Andrew Sakil. Close enough, I guess?
Andy Serkis is known for his motion capture performance, which brought the character of Gollum to life (IMDB). In an interview, he said that he faced mockery in the early days of motion capture (Source: FC)
Also, Robert Sigal might refer to Stephen Seagal? 🤔
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