Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum to only use AI for ‘some of the de-aging’

Shortly after Peter Jackson said he doesn’t dislike AI as a tool in filmmaking, Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum director Andy Serkis has confirmed that the movie will only use artificial intelligence for one purpose: de-aging. 

The Hunt for Gollum is the first new live-action Lord of the Rings movie since Jackson wrapped up The Hobbit trilogy in 2014. Directed by Serkis, who is also reprising his iconic role as Gollum, the film is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. 

It follows Aragorn and Gandalf as they race to find Gollum before he can reveal the location of the One Ring to Sauron, with the story expanding on events that were only briefly referenced in JRR Tolkien’s original work. 

Jackson isn’t detached from the project, as he’ll be serving as producer alongside longtime collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

In a new interview with Variety, Serkis revealed that the film is well on track for its 2027 release date. “We’ve literally just completed a week,” he said. “We’re finally up and running, so it’s great. It’s really exciting.”

The topic of conversation turned to AI’s use in creative work, with the filmmaker explaining, “I think AI as a creative tool is, as long as it’s not exploitative and as long as it’s not harming anybody or defaming anybody or telling mistruths, is valuable. 

“If you’re looking for reference material, say, in the old days you get reference images for something. Well, now you can prompt something and get a result. And I don’t have any problem with that.”

Serkis condemned the use of AI when people are not compensated for the work they’ve done or when it’s used in nefarious ways. But “if we teach AI well, then it can help us across many industries,” he said.

When asked if AI is being used in the Lord of the Rings movie, Serkis replied, “Not at present, other than some of the de-aging. There’s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process. 

“When you think about it, in the original Lord of the Rings films, Peter created MASSIVE, which was a program which allowed 1000s of orcs to all have their own individual mindset. So that is a brilliant example of an incredible use of AI.

“But we’re not creating AI shots in our movie, every shot is created in a traditional way. One of the things actually that I really wanted to do with this film was to bring back all of the great filmmaking skills, from miniatures to prosthetics and marry them up, because that’s my taste.”

Many of the original cast from the movies are set to reprise their roles in The Hunt for Gollum, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo and Lee Pace as Thranduil. 

So it would make sense for the de-aging process to be used in these cases. But Serkis wouldn’t reveal who is getting the treatment, simply saying, “I’m not telling you!”

Although AI’s use in art is normally a contentious topic, many fans believe this to be an appropriate example. 

“AI is perfect for de-aging,” wrote one commenter. “It should get a complete and utter free pass for that. Having an artist sit and de-age someone must be a horrific chore. Let them work on something fun instead.”

“I mean de-aging I’m alright with as long as it’s not full on AI,” said another, while a third added, “Every single VFX tool these days uses AI for some part of the processing. This isn’t generative AI.”

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Featured image credit: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock/New Line Cinema