Andy Serkis to Receive IBC 2019 International Honor for Excellence

AMSTERDAM—The man behind Gollum from the “Lord of the Rings” movies will have a new “precious” on his mantle, as IBC 2019 has announced that it will bestow is International Honor for Excellence on actor, director and producer Andy Serkis.

Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis

The England-born performer is best known for his performance-capture roles of Gollum, Supreme Leader Snoke in “Star Wars” and as Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy. It is his work in improving the method of motion capture for CGI toward the combination of technology and an actor’s performance—“bringing together the highest performance standards with the latest in image recognition and CGI technology,” as IBC describes it—that he will be recognized for.

“The International Honor for Excellence has a long history of rewarding those who have transformed our creative vision,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “Andy Serkis has achieved this by bringing extraordinary humanity to computer-generated characters.”

“I feel incredibly honored to have been chosen as the recipient of this year’s prestigious IBC Award,” said Serkis. “In turn, I must share this appreciation with the phenomenal legions of creative artists, visionaries and pioneers with whom I’ve been lucky enough to dance with on this next generation of storytelling.”

In addition to his performances, Serkis has his own production company, Imaginarium Studios, as has directed films including “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” and “Breathe.”

Serkis will receive his award during the IBC 2019 Awards Ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 15. Earlier in the day, he will also by part of an IBC 2019 Conference Convention Keynote that will review his career, the state of motion capture and the future of technology for the film and TV industries.

IBC 2019 will take place from Sept. 13-17 in Amsterdam.