The Lord of the Rings VFX supervisor Eric Saindon has opened up about the ways in which Gollum's CGI doesn't hold up to today's VFX standards. Portrayed by Andy Serkis and crafted via motion capture, Gollum made his full-body debut in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Since then, Gollum has been revered as a gold standard for computer-generated characters because of the level of detail afforded to him for the time period.
However, on an episode of "VFX Artists React" from the Corridor Crew YouTube channel, Saindon discusses the problems he now sees with Gollum throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He reveals the little details he sees when looking at Gollum now, while also saying those problems, though persistent, don't take too much away from Gollum's presentation in the film. Check out everything Saindon had to say below:
I have lots of notes.... Well, you go back and watch him, right, and you say, 'Oh, their shadows look terrible, the density of the shadows is wrong. How do the edges look wrong when it's a CG character over a plate? I mean, you don't think about it when you watch Lord of the Rings, right? It's like watching Jurassic Park, you don't think about the dinosaurs, you just know they look f***ing awesome. When you go back and look at Gollum now it's the same with the hair, right? It was solved as one big thing, so when you see it move, you see big strips out of it move and you go, 'Ugh, we can do so much better now!' But you've still got the character, and you still understood Gollum and you felt for Gollum, so it did the right thing!
For me I look at the facial, right? The mouth doesn't work for me anymore, the corners of the mouth. I don't see enough Andy [Serkis].
Why Gollum Is A Beloved Lord Of The Rings Character
While Saindon doesn't believe Gollum holds up to today's VFX standards, the character still maintains a high level of popularity. Gollum is a reflection of what Bilbo or Frodo could become if their obsession with the One Ring corrupted them for long enough. Having once been a Stoor Hobbit named Smeagol, Gollum's pursuit of the One Ring leads him to take advantage of Frodo and Sam on their quest to Mount Doom, as he seeks to steal the Ring for himself.
Despite this high level of popularity, though, Saindon makes important points about how Gollum could have been crafted in different ways that would have made his model less dated. If his shadow or hair had been given more attention, perhaps he would still look as realistic as modern VFX do. However, with just how far VFX has come since The Lord of the Rings, such as Avatar: The Way of Water creating a realistic, computer-generated world, Gollum may never have been able to match today's standards.
But just because Gollum isn't as technically impressive as what's come after him doesn't mean the character is no longer as memorable as he's always been. His importance in The Lord of the Rings, as well as Middle-earth, has spawned an upcoming Gollum video game where players can take control of him this July. While Saindon has many notes as to how Gollum could have been improved, his presence in the films is still a major reason why he's such a popular character in The Lord of the Rings.
Source: Corridor Crew/YouTube