‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’: Andy Serkis Plays An Important Role In The Sequel

It's been known that Andy Serkis has been working with Josh Whedon on his new movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Aside from an unspecified role the actor/director worked on the motion capture aspects of the sequel. As for the extent of his contribution to the movie's Mo-Cap, Serkis revealed in an interview that he did some scenes for Ultron and even for the Hulk.

In an interview with Empire, Andy Serkis revealed that some motion capture work was done "on the development of Ultron before James Spader" was cast to play the character. The actor revealed that through his company The Imaginarium they were able to determine the villain's movement styles, whether he was "gonna be human-like or robot-like" in "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

"So we worked with a bunch of different people, from body-popping experts to dancers, to this guy called Neil who's nearly eight feet tall...," he said.

Andy Serkis also worked with Mark Rufallo, who returns as Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk in the sequel. He revealed in the same interview with Empire that he helped the actor hone his performance as the angry green giant during the motion capture. Andy Serkis explained Mark Rufallo was given weights including "voice projections so he could do his Hulk roar."

"On screen we could have a virtual representation of the low-res avatar of The Hulk, so he could come out and feel that sense of scale," he added.

This is reportedly not the first time motion capture was used on Hulk. Talking to Variety Serkis confirmed the previous Hulk was done in Mo-Cap too "but not to the same extent Mark is using in "Avengers: Age of Ultron." He claimed there are "tools and ways of working with an actor that makes them feel that they own the character." According to Serkis a character the size of the Hulk "needs ownership, which Mark has now."

Aside from helping Mark Rufallo with his Hulk performance through motion-capture, Andy Serkis hinted that he actually has a role in "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Evidently, he appeared briefly in the movie's trailer. However, the actor declined to reveal whether his role pertains to his motion capture or a live-action performance. He admitted to Variety it's all the same to him since he's never been one to draw a distinction when it comes to playing a role. He claimed acting is basically just a matter of what you wear to the set that makes the difference.