Yesterday, when the
Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer opened with,
"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?" and concluded with
“the Dark Side … and the light,” people immediately began wondering which actor spoke the dialogue. Many believed the voice belonged to
Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock"). That seemed like a fair guess as the voice does sound a bit like Cumberbatch's '
Smaug' voice in
The Hobbit films and the speech pattern resembles the way he spoke as '
Khan' in J.J. Abrams'
Star Trek Into Darkness. Some thought it might be
Adam Driver. Thought that seemed like a bit of a stretch as the
Girls actor has a very distinct voice, which sounds nothing like what we heard. Another actor that was suggested as often as Cumberbatch was
Andy Serkis ("Avengers: Age of Ultron"). If that's who you thought it was, I have good news for you. it was!
Drew McWeeny of
Hit Fix and
Steven Weintraub of
Collider have both verified that the ominous voiceover heard in the trailer dripped from the tongue of
Andy Serkis.
"For the record, that is Andy Serkis you hear in the trailer. I was able to verify this, although I was not able to uncover any further information about the role he plays. Here's what I do know, though. He's playing a pivotal role in the film, although he will not have a lot of screen time." - Drew McWeeny
Forgive me for pointing this out, but the actor on the right of the screen is
Andy Serkis. The modern day
Lon Chaney is best known for donning a motion-capture costume, and by the time we see Serkis on the big screen he's a digital creature. You'd recognize him as '
Gollum' in Peter Jackson's
The Lord of The Rings and
The Hobbit trilogies and '
Caesar' in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Next summer, audiences will become very familiar with Andy Serkis' real mug as he has a
non-motion-capture role in Joss Whedon's
Avengers: Age of Ultron. There's also a chance Serkis will get some much deserved attention even earlier as 20th Century Fox is pushing ahead with a "Best Supporting Actor"
Oscar campaign based on Andy's work in
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. If
Serkis gets nominated, and if he wins, his face will get a lot of exposure.
Star Wars: Episode VII - Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film. It's being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on
December 18, 2015.