#andy serkis

Asked about the diversity debate during a recent interview with the BBC, Serkis began by acknowledging the whiteness of the previous “LOTR” movies, saying, "Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology. There's a lot of that feeling. The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know… They're not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don't want people coming in."

Directly addressing the "criticisms," Serkis went on to say that “The Hunt For Gollum” "is somewhat acknowledging that," but won't necessarily be incorporating any of the feedback. "I don't think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it's where relevant basically," he said.

-----

"Brown" doesn't mean brown people in LOTR-ese the way we use it to refer to non-black POC, it means tan—like, if the Chinese, a reputedly pale ethnicity, can call a light medium skin tone black while still referring to fellow indigenous Chinese, English authors from the 40s can surely call light medium skin tones brown without referring to nonwhite Brits.

But also there's no good reason for somebody to flap his gums about "politically correct" blah blah blah. That's absolutely a dog whistle. He shouldn't have thought that way and he definitely shouldn't have said it.

Serkis Addresses Casting Controversy Andy Serkis, the director behind a forthcoming adaptation in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ universe, recently responded to inquiries about the predominantly white cast. Serkis explicitly stated that his production would not pursue ‘politically correct casting for the sake of casting.’ This declaration has drawn significant attention from both fantasy enthusiasts and…