FROM GOLLUM TO GREAT WHITE: ANDY SERKIS TO GET HIS MOTION CAPTURE TEETH INTO THE SHARK FROM JAWS

The shark from Jaws is set to get a makeover ahead of his 50th anniversary, and his black eyes, like a doll's eyes aren't set to be lifeless anymore, thanks to Andy Serkis.

Serkis is still perhaps best known for his motion captured role as Gollum from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

Not that the shark from Jaws will be the first creature – realistic or otherwise - he has brought to life as he also did motion capture for Jackson’s King Kong and on Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, Serkis was the consultant on the film's motion capture sequences.

And he stunned us all playing Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, and directed the animals of The Jungle Book for Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. He’s also set to direct a motion capture adaptation of Animal Farm.

Fresh from behind the camera and directing Venom and Carnage in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, he is now said to be relishing the challenge of adding a new cinema's most famous great white shark. And, let us not forget, he is no motion capture performance virgin for Steven Spielberg as he played Captain Haddock in TinTin.

Serkis has already been reportedly watching hours of Shark Week footage and is also planning to go cage diving with great whites to help bring that extra something to the role of the shark from Jaws.

Much like he turned Kong from just being a hairy special effect, he's now hoping to bring that same magic to the shark and make the 25 foot great white more realistic, and who knows audiences may even feel more empathy for the shark.

All of which means that the shark will now be CGI for certain moments of the film, mixing practical effects and state-of-the-art computer graphics just like Spielberg did for the first Jurassic Park back in 1993.

This will be welcome news to the last surviving crew member of the Orca, Matt Hooper actor Richard Dreyfuss. He has long said that he felt the shark from Jaws should get an overhaul.

Interviewed at the Catalina Film Festival back in 2018, the Oscar winning actor said: “They should put the money in to CGI [to replace] that beast and make it come alive. Is that blasphemy? No, no, I don’t think so. The technology now could make the shark look as good as the rest of the movie.”

“I think they should do it, it would be huge and it would open up the film to younger people.”

Perhaps Dreyfuss does have a point. After all, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Jaws shark got a Hollywood makeover from Greg Nicotero, so why shouldn’t the film Bruce get a bit of a spruce as well?

Andy, just be kind to our shark, he’s our precious.

Words by Dean Newman

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