Their goal was not to soften Orwell into nursery material. It was to make the story approachable for “young inquiring minds” who could talk about it with parents and grandparents afterward. A charming thought, assuming everyone survives the car ride home after discussing authoritarianism.
How Serkis Updated Orwell’s Political Warning
Serkis worked closely with the Orwell estate while reshaping the story for a younger and contemporary audience. Rather than making a film narrowly about totalitarian Russia in the 1930s and 1940s, he wanted the themes to feel global and current.
That meant adding a central young piglet character who begins by seeing himself as equal to the other animals after the rebellion, then becomes corrupted by power and by the influence of a leader Serkis describes less as a fascist dictator and more as a populist.
The director insists the film is not aimed at a single political side. In his view, Orwell’s message remains intact because the story is still about power, misinformation, disinformation, and the collapse of truth.
Serkis also changed the ending. Orwell’s original conclusion is famously bleak. The film offers younger viewers a less hopeless finish, one that allows them to ask, as Serkis put it, “Well, how can we make it better next time round.”
What Happened With the U.S. Release
Animal Farm was released in the United States by Angel Studios, the company widely associated with conservative and faith-friendly projects, including Sound of Freedom. Serkis said Angel showed strong interest and seemed to be broadening its identity toward films that “bring light to the world” or encourage social change.
The reaction was not quiet. According to Serkis, the first trailer drew around 60 million hits, many driven by outrage. He said viewers attacked the film from both the left and the right.
The criticisms included:
- claims that it was anti-capitalist
- complaints that it was “not anti-communist enough”
- broader objections to what people assumed were its political targets
Serkis said the movie did create the debate he wanted. What it did not do was convince many parents to buy tickets for their children. The film struggled at the U.S. box office, which is a useful reminder that online fury and ticket sales are not the same business model.
Why Serkis Expects a Different Response in the U.K.
The film opens in cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 24, distributed by Vue’s Lumiere. Serkis believes it may land differently there because Orwell’s book has a strong cultural place in Britain.
“I think there is a real love for the book and it’s really valued,” he said.
He hopes parents will take children to see it and does not believe the film is too dark for young audiences. In his view, even a six-year-old could watch it. He said test screenings with children went well, though he acknowledged the obvious commercial flaw: children are not the ones buying cinema tickets.
The film’s voice cast includes Seth Rogen, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, and Woody Harrelson. Serkis wants audiences to see it as a family film that sparks questions about leadership, truth, and corruption, rather than as a partisan lecture with hooves.
What Is Happening on The Hunt for Gollum
While Animal Farm begins its U.K. run, Serkis is back in New Zealand for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which Warner Bros. is set to release at the end of 2027.
The timing is notable: the film will arrive just shy of 25 years after Peter Jackson’s original trilogy ended with The Return of the King, where Gollum met his fate in Mount Doom.
This time, Serkis is directing in Middle-earth for the first time, though he previously served as second unit director on all three The Hobbit films. He is also returning to play Sméagol/Gollum through motion capture.
Serkis said production had “literally just wrapped its first week” and was finally up and running. He described being back with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and much of the old crew as a “big family affair,” including the children of people who worked on the original films.
Returning cast members include Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, while new names attached include Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Leo Woodall. Asked about Dornan stepping into the role of Aragorn, Serkis said: “I’ve got to say, Jamie’s doing extremely well. He’s fantastic.”
As for whether Jackson will get another cameo, Serkis offered only: “We’ll have to see about that.”
How AI Will Be Used in the New Lord of the Rings Film
Serkis has long worked near the edge of film technology, so naturally the conversation turned to artificial intelligence. He said he sees AI as a creative tool, provided it is not exploitative, defamatory, harmful, or used to spread lies.
“If we teach AI well, then it can help us across many industries,” he said.
For The Hunt for Gollum, Serkis said there are no current plans to create AI-generated shots. The main use will be limited, involving some de-aging for certain characters, with machine learning involved. He declined to say who is being de-aged.
He also pointed out that Jackson’s original trilogy already used advanced technology in a way that anticipated some modern AI conversations. The MASSIVE software allowed thousands of orcs to appear as though they had individual behavior and decision-making.
Still, Serkis emphasized that the new film will rely on traditional filmmaking methods. He wants to bring back miniatures, prosthetics, and practical craft, then combine them with modern tools.
Why Serkis Says AI Cannot Replace Motion Capture Yet
Serkis acknowledged that AI can already imitate familiar characters in short clips and prompted images. He mentioned the many versions of Lord of the Rings characters circulating on TikTok as proof of how quickly the technology can mimic the surface.
But he draws a clear line between imitation and performance.
Performance capture, he said, is “an actor’s authored technology.” It depends on choices made across a full script, from the first page to the last, and on what happens between actors in a scene. Those small decisions are what build a character.
For brief prompted moments, Serkis thinks AI can sometimes hold up. For a complete dramatic performance, he does not believe it can replace an actor, at least not yet.
That leads to a larger point he has made for years: motion-capture acting should be recognized as acting. Serkis said he has never seen it as anything else, because the performer is still creating the character, even if they are wearing tracking dots instead of prosthetic makeup.
He does not want a special Oscar category for performance capture. He wants the work considered in the existing acting categories.
Asked whether a motion-capture performance should finally receive an Academy Award nomination, Serkis was clear: “Yeah, absolutely. I really do. I think it’s been a long time coming and have never thought any differently.”
