In 2003, one of the most innovative and captivating performers in film did not receive a nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, yet he still received recognition.
The remarkably lifelike appearance of Gollum, the computer-generated (CG) character who cunningly navigated his way through the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, remained one of the most impressive elements of the trilogy’s concluding chapter, The Return of the King.
During the 76th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on this day in 2004, the film achieved a remarkable feat by winning 11 Oscars, a record-tying number, which included Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Jackson), and Best Visual Effects.
In the intricate realm of writer J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Gollum is a former hobbit who has developed a consuming obsession with the titular ring after it was lost to Bilbo Baggins decades earlier (events recounted in Tolkien’s earlier work, The Hobbit). Gollum makes a fleeting appearance in the first film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), rising to prominence in the next two films, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King. His relentless pursuit of the ring leads him to interact with and oppose the film’s hobbit heroes, Frodo Baggins (Bilbo’s nephew, portrayed by Elijah Wood) and Sam Gangee (Sean Astin), as they journey to the dark realm of Mordor to destroy the powerful ring and restore peace to Middle Earth.
Wanting Gollum to be inspired by the movements of a real person, Jackson chose the actor Andy Serkis, who also provided the character’s voice (enhanced by digital sound mixing).
Through a process called motion-capture photography, a computer recorded Serkis’ movements as he performed scenes while wearing a specialized bodysuit. This data allowed animators to generate an intricate computer-generated image featuring 300 muscles and 250 facial shapes. While CGI had been successfully utilized in previous films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Toy Story (1995), as well as in later Star Wars and Harry Potter installments, Gollum stood out as the most lifelike instance of CGI to that point.
In mid-2003, Gollum claimed victory in two categories at the MTV Movie Awards: Best Virtual Performance and co-recipient of Best On-Screen Team (alongside Wood and Astin).
Fans even campaigned for the character to receive an Academy Award nomination. Although their efforts did not succeed, The Return of the King emerged victorious at the 2004 Oscars, sweeping all categories in which it was nominated (including Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Song, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Sound Mixing, and Editing) and tying with Ben-Hur (1960) and Titanic (1997) for the highest number of Academy Awards won by a single film.
