James Franco is going in full lobbying mode for his co-star in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Andy Serkis, to receive an acting nomination. “What he does is real acting,” Franco said. “I got to work opposite Andy the whole time on the actual sets. We were back to one actor acting opposite another -- it was just that one of us was playing a chimpanzee.”
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What Franco is lobbying against is the perceived Oscar resistance to nominating an actor for an Academy Award whose entire effort arose from motion capture acting. Serkis earned raves (including Movie Fanatic’s review) for his performance as the lead ape in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The Academy has long resisted honoring actors who do their entire performance in the motion cap suit, but Franco thinks it’s time that they embrace technology and, most importantly, the thespian bringing a character to life. “To me, it seems like such a shame that Andy doesn’t get recognized now, because this is the moment when he’s really broken through,” Franco said.
Serkis had some Oscar talk for his portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films, but it failed to materialize in an acting nod. Franco believes the time is now and if it doesn’t happen, it will be one of the Academy’s great snubs.
“He’s doing it better than anyone else on the planet,” Franco said of Serkis and his motion capture work.
What do you think, does Serkis deserve an acting nod for Rise of the Planet of the Apes?
