Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis has recalled the moment when his cat inadvertently inspired Gollum's voice.
Serkis has portrayed the iconic Tolkien character in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The actor and filmmaker will return to the role in a new movie that's due to be released in 2026.
Speaking on Marquee TV's video podcast series Move to Live hosted by the dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, Serkis went into detail about developing the character of Gollum prior to filming – and shared more about the "well-documented" story of how his cat Dizz became a key part of that process.
"I mean, the impetus comes from things like – and it's fairly well-documented, but it's true – the movement of a cat, for instance, really informed Gollum's voice," he explained.
"Because I was looking for something that was involuntary. The way his body is physically wracked by the power of The Ring and this nature of the addiction."
Serkis recalled during his development of the character that Tolkien's books mentioned Gollum had acquired that name because of the way that he sounded after his corruption by The One Ring.
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He said he was also thinking about a reference to "something to do with the guilt of killing his cousin that was trapped in his throat" when considering Gollum's portrayal.
Serkis remembered that Dizz "literally came into the kitchen when I was working on creating Gollum, and started coughing furballs up".
He added that the "whole physicality" of the cat's behaviour "from the back of his spine rippling right through and then, producing that sound" made him think that it was "exactly" what he had been searching for in terms of inspiration – particularly as Dizz was "not in control of that movement".
"And that's exactly, that's how – 'Go! Go! Gollum! Go! Gollum! Go! Gollum!' – how that sound started to come about," he added, switching into the character's voice mid-sentence to show the progression of the sound (as seen in the trailer above).
Serkis recently explained his decision to reprise one of his most iconic characters in Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which reunites him with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
"Gollum has always stuck with me throughout all of these years," he told Deadline. "I've read audiobooks of the trilogy and the Silmarillion and The Hobbit, so Tolkien's world has never left me in all of that time since we did the first films.
"And the character particularly has remained such an enormous part of my life. So it's absolutely thrilling to be able to go back and do a deep dive into his world again, and specifically into Gollum's psychology."
Serkis, who will also direct the movie, added that the creative team is "all interested in investigating on a deeper level who that character is", but also producing "something that's fresh and new and a different approach".
He also shared his excitement about revisiting Gollum with motion and performance capture technology that is "working at a much greater and a deeper level now" than when he originated the role.
During his conversation with Khan on Move to Live, Serkis also discussed other projects in his career from the Planet of the Apes movies to his founding of The Imaginarium Studios, which specialises in performance capture and virtual production.
He also recalled his "wild" experiences working at a futures broking firm in the 1990s to prepare for a role as a trader in Mike Leigh's comedy-drama Career Girls – and doing so well there that the company tried to tempt him to quit acting and move into finance.
Move to Live with Akram Khan launches new episodes weekly. Video episodes are available exclusively to Marquee TV subscribers, while you can listen to the audio-only versions wherever you get your podcasts.
Memberships for Marquee TV start from £8.99 per month, or £89.99 per year. Save 50% on your first month or first year's subscription to the arts streaming service with the offer code matv503.
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Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
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