Andy Serkis: An ‘Apes’ Movie With Live Wild Animals Would Be Absurd and Cruel
The days of threatening exotic animals into performing on camera may soon be over – and it’s thanks to advancements in technology as well as actors like Andy Serkis, the star of War for the Planet of the Apes, King Kong, and the upcoming Jungle Book, among other films. And in a new video interview with PETA, he celebrates the computer-generated imagery and performance-mapping that make modern movies like the Apes series possible – and cruelty-free.
As filmmakers have learned that animals endure deprivation and abuse in the entertainment industry, the use of digital effects to portray them has increased. The Revenant, Noah, and the Apes series all used digital imagery to create wild animals, and TV series The Walking Dead used computer-generated imagery and animatronics to create the stunningly realistic fan-favourite character Shiva the tiger. As Andy says:
The thought of shooting an Apes movie now with real apes is absurd. We’ve matured as an industry and realised that that would be intolerable and cruel.
You can help animals, too: pledge to avoid contributing to the cruel use of animals for entertainment by refraining from buying a ticket to any movie that uses live animals.
