The Taming of Sméagol (documentary)

In the Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2003), The Taming of Sméagol is a 40-minute documentary explaining the groundbreaking creation of Gollum for the screen. Found in disc three, "The Journey Continues", the documentary was directed by Michael Pellerin and features commentary by animators, producers, numerous members of Wētā Workshop, and Andy Serkis.
== Synopsis ==
In 1998, before Andy Serkis was considered for the role, a few hundred concept illustrations and maquettes were made of Gollum by John Howe and artists of Wētā Workshop. Then, full, double-scale busts of a few final designs were made, and rendered into CGI by Wētā Digital. Short animations of Gollum were shown to the films' studio New Line Cinema, who had been skeptical that a fully CGI character could be decently portrayed in the films.
Serkis, Sean Astin, and Elijah Wood tell about filming Gollum's preparatory reference-scenes before Serkis' acting was fully paired with Gollum. A new computer-rendered Gollum was designed by Christian Rivers, based this time on Andy Serkis' physiology. Scans were made of Serkis' own range of facial expressions by Bay Raitt and sculptures were made of the new Serkis-Gollum, to determine the eventual full-body design.
After Gollum's brief scene in The Fellowship of the Ring was finished (for which Andy Serkis was not required), debate ensued over whether to rely on motion capture for filming Gollum's movements in the next movies, or on key-frame animation. These methods, with rotoscoping, were ultimately combined to portray the full-body design on screen through Andy Serkis' acting.
After principal photography and pick-up shooting for the trilogy were finished, Serkis authored the book Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic in 2003.
== Personnel featured ==
* Jamie Beswarick - Wētā Workshop designer & sculptor
* Ben Wootten - Wētā Workshop designer & sculptor
* Jason Schleifer - Wētā Workshop senior animator
* John Howe - Tolkien artist
* Andy Serkis - actor of Gollum
* Bay Raitt - Wētā Workshop creature facial lead
* Christian Rivers - Wētā Workshop designer & art director
* Randall William Cook - animation designer & supervisor
* Adam Valdez - head of Wētā animation department
* Richie Baneham - animation supervisor
* Ken McGaugh - Wētā 3D sequence lead
* Warren Mahy - Wētā Workshop designer & sculptor
* Rick Porras - co-producer
* Richard Taylor - head of Wētā Workshop
* Barrie Osborne - producer
* Peter Jackson - director
* Jim Rygiel - VFX supervisor
* Jon Labrie - Wētā systems architect
* Mark Ordesky - producer
* Dean Wright - VFX producer
* Gino Acevedo - Wētā Workshop sculptor & painter
* Elijah Wood
* Sean Astin
Category:Features and parts of the Special Extended Editions
Category:Documentaries
Category:Real world topics