Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 21 december 2019
Andy Serkis on why the world needs a new `Christmas Carol'

By HILARY FOX his garb as the Spirit of
Associated Press Christmas Past — a pagan-
LONDON (AP) — Wearing inspired look he describes
a tall black hat, a heavy as "total sensory depriva-
mottled fur coat covered tion."
in trinkets, a long beard "I don't think I've ever worn
and plenty of hair, Andy such an uncomfortable
Serkis received a round of costume,'' said Serkis. ``The
applause from the crew costume's really heavy. I've
of ``A Christmas Carol'' af- got an eye which is kind of
ter thanking them for their a milky eye which I have no
hard work on the set. peripheral vision out of the
An hour later, he emerged right-hand side of my face.
clean shaven and delight- I've got long fingernails."
ed to be "derigged" from It didn't help that this festive

This undated photograph provided by FX Networks shows actors Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge,
left, and Andy Serkis in character as the Spirit of Christmas Past in the movie ‘A Christmas Carol.’
Associated Press

offering was shot during a Coming from "Peaky Blind- Also on the set, Pearce's
heat wave in July. ers" creator Steven Knight, Scrooge looked pale, tor-
Even the colder night shoots this version of the classic mented by his past. In his
were no relief. "I thought, Charles Dickens story was hand-sewn, Victorian-tai-
I've got the best costume, ``plugged into the zeit- lored costume, he looked
I don't need a warm set geist,'' Serkis said. The script quite different from the
coat. But then it started appealed to him, he said, stripy bed socks, night cap
raining and I realized when because although it told and comedic grumpy de-
my costume started get- the tale ``through a 19th meanor of many other in-
ting wet, it weighed about century lens, it feels incred- terpretations.
five times as much," Serkis ibly contemporary — philo- Serkis thinks Pearce's por-
said. sophically and emotionally trayal is something fresh.
This new version of ``A and politically." "He's so wary of the cliché
Christmas Carol,'' starring "Everything is transactional of presenting a Dickensian
Guy Pearce as Ebenezer in the world of Scrooge. character. He wants him to
Scrooge, airs as an FX Origi- Everything has a currency be totally emotionally truth-
nal Movie on Dec. 19, with and a value and a mon- ful, very, very subtly pulled
encores Dec. 22, Dec. 24 etary value. So, I think that back. It's a tightrope, but
and Dec. 25. sort of ultra or uber capital- he's avoided all of the trap-
Serkis, who is perhaps best- ist view is very much what pings of any version of this
known as the actor behind Steven has been trying to character I've seen before.
the computer-enhanced grapple with," Serkis said. He's really very mean-spirit-
character of Gollum in Serkis loves Dickens and ed, yet still, a grain of you
``The Lord of the Rings'' and isn't surprised there have feels some empathy to-
``Hobbit'' films, talked to the been so many screen ver- ward him, even though he's
Associated Press on set in sions of his work. incredibly hard and refuses
Hertfordshire, England, af- "At the end of the day, who to be drawn into any kind
ter wrapping his part in the needs another Christmas of an emotional release,"
production of ``A Christmas Carol?" he asked. "There's Serkis said.
Carol'' last summer. so many 'Christmas Carols' As for modern-day paral-
He described shaving off and there's so many ver- lels, when asked which po-
the heavy beard as "joy- sions of every Dickens story. litical figures could benefit
ous." But when you have a pro- from Dickens' lesson on al-
"I feel so much better," he duction company and a truism, Serkis laughs.
said. "My son will speak to writer and a creative team "I don't think the imagina-
me now." that have such a unique tion has to stray too far re-
Despite the discomfort of and specific take on the ally ... There are quite a few
his "facial accoutrements," source material, then it's who could do with having
this was a project Serkis something you'd love to be the mirror held up to them-
couldn't turn down. involved in for sure." selves, put it that way."q