Ian McKellen Presents Andy Serkis with Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema | EE BAFTA Film

good evening who is this award for well it's for an actor who's also a director was also an innovator who is also a screen I can't let me give you a few hints I met him first just 20 years ago we just started filming Lord of the Rings in New Zealand and we were plunged into that mysterious world not just of middle-earth but of height differences and to achieve the disparity between tall wizards like me and the much shorter hobbits like Elijah Wood we were never allowed to look directly at each other when we were filming Elijah and later Martin Freeman they had to take a higher eyeline when they were looking at me not into my eyes but to the top of my pointy hat and in Reverse conversely I had to look no higher than just above Frodo's belt buckle it wasn't so much acting as a navel-gazing elsewhere at the studio more sophisticated methods were being employed to tell our story and our director Peter Jackson made and conjured armies out of the computer and out of the computer managers imagination of course and indeed there was one actor in particular who was not a fronted by wetter workshops developments and the technology they produced it seemed almost daily he was not disheartened indeed he was a party to inventing the new film technology of motion capture that's an actor's movement captured on film and then turned by some magic I don't understand into a body quite unlike the actor's own and Andy Serkis for it is he of whom I'm speaking gave his right he gave his precious Gollum not just an unforgettable voice but he gave a character and the aspiration for that stifling body emaciated reptilian fishy the creature of fairy stories and myths and indeed nightmares and the circuses Gollum wouldn't you agree is a total scream classic Gandalf and Gollum never met so I first worked with Andy or rather worked for him when he was act directing I think for the first time as the head of the second unit filming on The Hobbit veterans of many and night's shoot and the for the actors who've worked with him then and since is a special case because he is an actor himself and one of such experience and preeminence that a note from him is golden he understands and is reliably helpful and since Imaginarium which he hoped to start and established by his team to explore what was possible in motion capture we've been treated to Oh King Kong and and a whole series a tribe of lesser apes they've also been to startling contrasting Ian's the punk musician injury and the murderer Ian Brady you know off screen he supported by Lorraine and the talented family and at home and at work he is the salt of the earth he's the salt of our business he gives it its flavor and after his right to want to present this award to the over deserving and the circus the magician Anthony circus let's have a look at some of his screen magic and if these welcome the most agile actor in London Andy Serkis [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh Lord joy thank you thank you thank you Ian thank you so much thank you BAFTA thank you for this incredible honor thank you all for standing up that's just blown my mind and I was asked to keep this speech to 90 seconds which is totally fine by me except that how do you thank Gillian people that you've worked with over a number of decades in 90 well now 80 seconds it's completely impossible so I'm going to start I'm going to start with the most important partnership in my life so that if I run out of time and I've got this one in the bag my my significant other more than significant other my my lover my touchstone my favorite actor on the planet my department of ways and means Lorraine I love you my children Ruby sunny and Louie thank you so much for allowing me to gallivant around the world wearing gray spandex suits and not disowning me thank you for that Buick centrale sh and Philippa boyens thank you for introducing me to the foresaid grade spandex suit and and spending many happy years and creating characters in your wonderful movies thank you to jela Terry and all of wetter digital's the Wizards of wetter and my all of my extended family in New Zealand my dear fellow and co-founder of The Imaginarium Jonathan Cavendish and all of our talented Imagineers Matt Brown and all of the capture aces at The Imaginarium Studios a huge thanks to my incredible management team the great Larry child Gerry Schmitz Hilda cui Lee John Garvey Franklin Latin all at CAA thank you very much you're the best you really are my eight family Dylan Clark Matt Reeves Rupert Wyatt Terri notary and Michael chiquinho to mention but a few Paul virag Mat Whitecross Damon Jones Iowa for all the sex and drugs and rock and roll and the movie as well and and the legendary Bob Richardson who are now working with for being such a great compadre on on on all our collaborations I just want to say briefly something about performance capture I truly believe that is it is an egalitarian form of acting it's it's a one of the great tools for actors and filmmakers over for the 21st century for storytelling in the 21st because it signifies the end of typecasting anyone can play anything Minerva used to be accepted as a sort of standard industry practice but it is now so monumental thank you to all of the innovators to the coders the animators the CG artists the visual effects companies that the actors who continued to develop it and I just want to say a quick thank you to all of the people who were there at the beginning of my career keith sturgis and Margaret a - all my amazing tutors who nurtured my desire to create theater Jonathan petha Bridge who truly defined my purpose as a young actor and Luke Olsen for all the many years of wonderful guidance and and friendship finally able to say much love and thanks to my siblings Carol Katherine ISA and Paul who have always been so unbelievably supportive despite the fact I never returned any calls and finally my parents who lie Lea and Clem who both of whom slipped away while I was filming on the other side of the world never got to say goodbye but I'm sure pretty certain that if they were watching now they would be as over the moon as I am thank you very much indeed [Applause] you

Channel: BAFTA

Views: 446,027

Keywords: Bafta, bafta film awards, bafta film 2020, bafta 2020, bafta film, bafta film live, bafta red carpet, bafta 2020 full show, bafta film awards full show, bafta 2020 awards, bafta 2020 winners, bafta film awards 2019, film awards, ian mckellen, ian mckellen award, ian mckellen bafta, andy serkis bafta, andy serkis award, outstanding british contribution to cinema, andy serkis speech, ian mckellen speech

Id: mbrd1XeBNBQ

Length: 8min 39sec (519 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/NineZeroFour]

Playing Alfred in The Batman and directing the Venom sequel. Good on him.

[u/leos-rdt]

I’m so glad that Andy’s getting the much deserved recognition he should always have and even more glad that he’s working with the ‘Apes’ team he already loves on ‘The Batman’ too.

[u/FewWatermelonlesson0]

Andy's been booked and busy the last few years. Ya love to see it.

[u/Lovenightingale05]

What happened to his leg?

[u/AceTheSkylord]

Andy Serkis being given the award by Ian McKellen is just perfect

[u/telking777]

Are the BAFTAs live right now? I see it’s on BBC network