Click for more images
Diana W writes: I went to the event. I arrived at Barnes & Noble at 2:30pm and I waited until 7:00. At first, there were not that many people except for more enthusiastic LOTR fans. When he came, the crowd was whooping and cheering. He briefly explained why he wrote the book, and acknowledging the fact that though many fans already know a lot about his experiences through his many interviews and the DVD extras, there is still much more to say. He then read a passage from his book (about how he came to portray Hobbit-Smeagol as he is portrayed on the film). He ended the excerpt at the point in the book about his daughter being able to see through his rather frightening Smeagol-turning-into-Gollum makeup. He then acted out the Stinker-Slinker scene from “Two Towers,” to the audience’s delight. Afterwards, he answered questions until he was told “two more questions.” Among the questions asked was one concerning a possible role for Andy in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong.” He said that it is possible, since the motion capture allows any actor to manipulate or puppeteer the digital image. Another question was “a bit of trivia;” it concerned the end of ROTK, where there was a hobbit (a slightly hunched back one?) in the background near the end of the film. The audience member asked if it was he who played that small part, possibly implying Gollum is still lingering around (in a spiritual sense). Andy replied that it wasn’t he who played that hobbit. One particular memorable moment was when one fan asked that since Andy had played Smeagol/Gollum for such a long time, was it ever hard for him to return to “the Andy.” Andy said something that amounted to “no” but he also did a Gollum impression while he was answering (the audience laughed).
People were allowed only to bring Mr. Serkis’ book to be signed (no memorabilia whatsoever). I was in the front row, and I was able to get my autographed book quickest. He was very polite, but since there were nearly a hundred or more people waiting for him, he spoke few words. I took some photos, and being in the first row, I have no obstruction. However, I used flash for half of my photos (they non-flash photos look absolutely fine, even better, than the flash ones!) but they turned out dark when I put them on the computer. Feel free to lighten the pictures. I took some pictures of his reenactment of the Stinker-Slinker scene; I think you’ll be able to discern where that is!
I can’t think of much more concerning today’s events; my head is swimming with thoughts! I hope other fans’ accounts can supplement my synopsis of a report.
