LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM Producer Peter Jackson On Why We're Getting Sméagol's Origin Story

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM Producer Peter Jackson On Why We're Getting Sméagol's Origin Story

Many fans have questioned the need for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and the movie's creative team - including Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis - now explain why they're telling this story...

By JoshWilding - May 16, 2024 04:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Lord of the Rings
Source: Deadline (via SFFGazette.com)

Last week, Warner Bros. announced plans for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a new movie set near the beginning of the original trilogy starring and directed by Andy Serkis.

Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, who wrote the previous movies, are set to pen the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). Filmmaker Peter Jackson, meanwhile, is producing the project.

In a lengthy interview with Deadline, the latter elaborated on why Gollum's origin story was the right focus for the first of what's expected to be a whole slate of spin-offs.

"The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic," Jackson said. "I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us."

"We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films. It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien."

"Andy was a joy to work with directing Second Unit on The Hobbit," the director continued. "He has the energy and imagination and, most importantly, an inherent understanding of the world of the story that is needed to step back into Middle-earth."

"We have collaborated on eight films together and each time it has been a fantastic experience. There’s no one in this earth better equipped to tackle Gollum’s story than Andy."

Boyens adds, "Gollum’s story is one of the most compelling to us in terms of a character that we couldn’t go as deeply into as we wanted to before, which sounds strange when you say that, given how familiar he is to everybody. Gollum’s life span takes place in such an interesting period of Middle-earth. When the question was first asked, this was the first story we thought of."

It's a compelling enough argument for why this prequel is happening, and it's wise to kick things off with a movie which is likely to also include characters such as Aragorn and Gandalf.  

The trade also caught up with Serkis to get his thoughts on why he wanted to not only return to one of his most famous roles but also step behind the camera to tell this story as a director (after previously helming Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Venom: Let There Be Carnage).

"Gollum has always stuck with me throughout all of these years," Serkis admits. "I’ve read audio books of the trilogy and the Silmarillion and The Hobbit, so Tolkien’s world has never left me in all of that time since we did the first films. And the character particularly has remained such an enormous part of my life."

"So it’s absolutely thrilling to be able to go back and do a deep dive into his world again, and specifically into Gollum's psychology," he enthused. "I know we’re all interested in investigating on a deeper level who that character is, and on top of that, to be able to direct and hopefully create a film which has its place within the canon, but also something that’s fresh and new and a different approach."

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be released in theaters in 2026.

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FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 5/16/2024, 5:04 AM
Gonna flop like that Han Solo movie, watch
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/16/2024, 11:26 AM
@FireandBlood - I doubt that. The Last Jedi is the reason solo bombed.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 5/16/2024, 12:18 PM
@McMurdo - If that were the case, so would Rise of Skywalker, yet it didn’t. Solo bombed because it was poorly advertised on top of being a movie nobody asked for or wanted to see.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/16/2024, 1:27 PM
@FireandBlood - that's actually a fair point with Rise it made a bil didn't it? I don't think TLJ backlash didn't help but your probably right in that it wasn't top of the list for why solo bombed
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 5/16/2024, 5:09 AM
cause Money. and no one wants to see a full feature film about that skinny bald b@st@rd.
Origame
Origame - 5/16/2024, 5:14 AM
?si=Dd47p2H17eBR-Wwi
Matchesz
Matchesz - 5/16/2024, 5:17 AM
I think a girl gollum is what the people need right now, shouldn't just only be superheroes if they wanna be fair.

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IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 5/16/2024, 8:04 AM
@Matchesz - She's not ugly enough, which is I'm sure offensive to say somehow.
DevilsDreams
DevilsDreams - 5/16/2024, 5:36 AM
Ooohhh ohh!! I can answer this one!!!

MONEY!!!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/16/2024, 5:39 AM
Any answer that isn't money is a lie.

They wanna cash in on one of their biggest IPs but they've run out of books they can adapt.

You think this is gonna be as much of a classic as the Professor's masterpiece or just a cheap hollywood movie?
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/16/2024, 6:06 AM
@ObserverIO - if they really wanted to cash in, I think they should've gone with a different character. There are many others that are far more popular I think
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/16/2024, 6:10 AM
@bkmeijer1 - - The algorithm will have told them that Gollum is the most popular character because he's the one that has permeated pop culture the most with people doing the "My Precious".

I think if you asked a hundred randos and two hundred noobs to name a Lord of the Rings character, the one that would be named the most would be Gollum, unfortunately.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/16/2024, 6:43 AM
@ObserverIO - true. Think the other could be Gandalf with "you shall not pass". Outside of that, there are more interesting characters to pick imo
Super12
Super12 - 5/16/2024, 11:25 AM
@ObserverIO - 100% spot on. Nothing organic or compelling about wanting to tell this story - which isn't even a story because all of his story has already been told. Gollum isn't a liked character on his own, only as a part of the War of the Ring and a foil to Frodo. This is gonna tank just like that Gollum video game they made.
ProfessorWhy
ProfessorWhy - 5/16/2024, 5:46 AM
Precious
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/16/2024, 6:51 AM
As a LOTR noob , their comments certainly sound compelling and make me understand their reasoning for going with this particular story as the first of an apparently new slate of films set in this world…

However i feel like in both the Hobbit & LOTR , we got enough of Sméagol/Gollum’s backstory to understand the character well enough and going by my research makes it seem like further expansion might just be rather minute (other then going back to him as a hobbit by showing his family life and how got disowned after killing his relative for the Ring which could make us have more sympathy for him).

Plus as much as I like Serkis as an actor , he hasn’t impressed me as a director yet (I didn’t like Venom:LTBC but might check out Breathe or Mowgli to see if those were better or not)…

Overall , I’m quite cautiously optimistic about this film and still think it would better served to maybe mine another area of Tolkien’s rich world or if you want to do a familiar character then someone like Aragorn might be better.

?si=tqL4XoEHNLo6HEPb
BobbyDrake
BobbyDrake - 5/16/2024, 7:18 AM
Should have done Beren and Luthien, children of Hurin, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, The Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham, or anything from The Lost Tales or Unfinished Tales before they just started making up their own stories to mine the IP!!!
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/16/2024, 11:27 AM
@BobbyDrake - can't do anything Second Age without rights or you end up with Rings of Power
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 5/18/2024, 5:49 AM
@McMurdo - while I absolutely agree with your response on reasoning. Beren and Luthien and Children of Hurin are 1st Age characters /stories and Tom, while certainly ubiquitous, is primarily 3rd Age
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/18/2024, 10:20 AM
@SauronthePower - I'm aware I've read Silmarillion fairly recently so I know what's 2nd age specifically. But even so, first age is completely off the board outside of whatever thin references are in the LotR books. Bombadil can't carry a film.
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 6/2/2024, 12:13 AM
@McMurdo - no disagreement whatsoever on that last sentence
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/2/2024, 1:59 PM
@SauronthePower - I dunno why I thought Beren and Luthien was second age. It's my favorite chapter of Silmarillion. Brain fart.
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 6/4/2024, 2:26 AM
@McMurdo - I get ‘em at least 37 times a day so no foul

Bigger issue = rumors that Bombadil supposedly has a VACATION HOME in the eastern lands of Rhùn that he utilizes to spy out the unfolding of history

I mean, they really can’t be trying to be THIS crazy bad, can they??
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/4/2024, 11:30 AM
@SauronthePower - I saw that lol. Bombadil in Rhun makes no sense. The copium take is....."the books say he did some traveling before he settled down".
dragon316
dragon316 - 5/16/2024, 7:49 AM
This had nothing to do with YouTube fan film that was forced be deleted that’s weird coincidence shut down fan film on YouTube week later this is made to public
IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 5/16/2024, 8:04 AM
There's a huge part of me that really doesn't want to see Serkis return to the role, or anyone really. We have all we need of Gollum in the films, and do we really need to learn more about Smeagoll?
Razorface1
Razorface1 - 5/16/2024, 9:57 AM
@IAmAHoot - yeah, I mean his entire origin was shown in the third movie already.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 5/16/2024, 8:08 AM
User Comment Image
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/16/2024, 8:11 AM
@clintthahamster - yep

Certainly for the execs , that’s the reason
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 5/18/2024, 5:51 AM
@clintthahamster - User Comment Image
SteelGunZ
SteelGunZ - 5/16/2024, 8:21 AM
I think folks might be done with Lord of the Rings spinoffs.
DerekLake
DerekLake - 5/16/2024, 8:28 AM
The only reason I can think for why they are doing a Gollum movie is to give Andy Serkis more acting and more importantly directing work, unnecessary as that might seem. Who is that interested in Gollum? Of all the things to do with a LOTR spinoff, why Gollum?
SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 5/16/2024, 9:05 AM
They are going to have to do something really special to make me care about this at all.
DarthNihilus
DarthNihilus - 5/16/2024, 9:16 AM
Hollywood giving stuff nobody care as usual... they love to loose money.

No gonna pay for that.. i'll watch on streaming..
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 5/16/2024, 9:42 AM
It’s one of those untold stories that are referenced in the books, but not expounded upon outside the imagination. I wonder if they were inspired by the fan film or if they legitimately thought this was the story that needed to be told.

There are a host of stories that could be made to film from the Tolkien library that would be much better, but maybe in 10-20 years. I’m in the middle of rereading the Silmarillion and though it would be difficult, these stories would be amazing on screen with the right creative team behind it.
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 5/18/2024, 5:53 AM
@JustAWaffle - Villenueve or Gareth Edwards would crush The Silmarillion
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