Andy Serkis Defends Performance Capture Saying It's Not "a Drug-Assisted Sport"

Andy Serkis is probably the most famous actor to work with performance capture or motion capture techniques with his most famous role being Gollum in The Lord of the Rings franchise. His performances are amazing and compelling even though we don’t see Serkis’ face in these roles. Performance capture is able to pick up every movement, even the subtle ones, that an actor makes so that later digital effects can be applied to give us Gollum or Caesar from the recent Planet of the Apes films instead of a human in a terrible looking costume. In fact, Serkis has explained in a recent interview that by using digital imagery to replace the human it can increase the effect. He points to the character Caesar and states:

“If that character was a human being it would be an extraordinary journey. But as an ape and having that kind of filter, it’s that times 10 really; because we’re able to look at the human condition through the eyes of apes, it just elevates it into something else.”

For any critics of performance capture saying that the digital effects team will just go in and tweak everything to enhance a performance or make it “more perfect”, Serkis made this statement:

“There is no difference from an acting point of view. The approach is no different to a live-action role. It’s not standing in a voice booth for two hours every six months, it’s living with that character day-in and day-out on set for the entire duration of the shoot, living and breathing every single moment, making acting choices that you would do in the conventional sense. The performance is not augmented or changed by a committee of animators. It is honored, and the fidelity is sought to translate that performance. In the past, it’s almost felt like performance capture is kind of like a drug-assisted sport. Now that’s just not true. The performance is the performance.”

I for one think that motion capture is a great tool that has allowed for great characters to come to life. Like any other tool, it needs to be used responsibly though. What are your thoughts on this technique in films?