Andy Serkis: What Orwell Understood About Tyranny

Andy Serkis discusses the corrupting nature of power, what Animal Farm says about modern authoritarianism, and whether technology expands or diminishes human creativity.

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Andy Serkis: What Orwell Understood About Tyranny

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Today's guest is the legendary actor and director Andy Serkis, who has played everyone from Gollum to proto-punk icon Ian Dury to King Kong to Marvel villain Ulysses Klaue. His latest project is a controversial animated adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm, which he directed and is out on May 1 from Angel Studios.

He talks with Nick Gillespie about the new movie; what, if anything, ties together some of his signature roles; and whether technology advances or undermines art.

0:00—Why Serkis wanted to direct Animal Farm

4:30—The corrupting nature of power

7:35—Are we in a better place than we were 100 years ago?

10:34—Serkis' signature acting roles

18:31—The legacy of Ian Dury

25:42—Does technology enhance creativity

31:12—The fragility of democracy

Comments

[Mickey Rat]

Did Serkis want to direct "Animal Farm"? Since his movie seems to subvert the story of the book into something quite different.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

I wonder who plays Trotsky in this one

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

The hero?

[Mike Parsons]

"Laverne Cox as Snowball, a sow and co-leader of the rebellion who is Napoleon's rival. This character was male in Orwell's book."

Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate.[3][4][5] She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, becoming in 2014 the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category

[Mike Parsons]

* TRANS-sky

[Mickey Rat]

I suppose Snowball does not get an ice ax to the cranium on Napoleon's orders in this movie.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Holy Fvck

Why is Fonzie even here at this point

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

To spread Marxism?

[Zeb]

I don't know why the rest of Reason even puts up with him. I was recently talking to someone who has had some interaction with Nick (and his children) personally and apparently he's a huge asshole. Even his kids can't stand him.

[IceTrey]

His movie is an abomination that completely subverts the source material.

[Mike Parsons]

The comments section on the YT trailer restores me faith in humanity. Basically a 100% roasting "That thunder is Orwell rolling in his grave" "nothing more Orwellian than rewriting Orwell for propaganda" etc. That's at least nice to see.

We really have come full circle, memories are too short, and history teaching has failed us. An allegory about the evils of communism, its unfulfilled utopian promises, and the corrupt party apparatchiks, repurposed to be a message about capitalism (a superior system in every way) bad, and how we need to have a worker uprising to thwart it. One of the most well known warnings against marxism/leninism, being used as essentially an advertisement for it. Jesus these people are not redeemable. Shitting on the graves of multi-millions of people that the communist machine obliterated.

[IceTrey]

I wonder if Orwell's descendents or whoever controls the rights knew what he was going to do.

[Square = Circle]

The comments section on the YT trailer restores me faith in humanity.

Yeah - I saw the preview several weeks back and went to YT to see what people were saying about it and was heartened by the near-universal negative response. My favorite was along the lines of "it's like Animal Farm re-written by the pigs."

[damikesc]

Animal Farm is legit one of my favorite books and that this movie is, by the accounts I've seen by people I trust, unadultered shit is depressing.

I cannot fathom anything involving Laverne Cox being worth watching as is.

[Mickey Rat]

It is not like it was rewritten by the pigs. Rather, that is exactly what it is.

[Agammamon]

Serkis, the guy *not famous for* his political thinking, is pontificating on Orwell after working in a movie that bears as much resemblance to Animal Farm as Smiths 'I Robot' resembled Asimov's.

[Juliana Frink]

Serkis Clown.