Middle-earth got involved in the geopolitical conversation Wednesday with The Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The actor was on to promote batman, in which he plays Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler, Alfred Pennyworth. However, he also revealed that he narrated a version of The Lord of the Rings for audiobook.
Serkis gave examples of some of his character readings. While his other characters followed dialogue from the book, Serkis’s latest version of the dual-personality Gollum seems slightly reminiscent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Gollum was on this side and Sméagol was on this side,” Serkis explained. “And he would say things like, ‘We want it. We need it. We must have Kyiv!’ ‘No Precious, they’re to impose sanctions!’ ‘Sanctions? Sanctions, my Precious? If they do anything, we’re going to give them s*** back.’”
Serkis was referring to the sanctions that are being imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, and the actor likened the evil Gollum to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking of sanctions, apparently Andy’s newest film, batmanis being used to promote peace in Eastern Europe.
“There’s so much anticipation for this movie right now, that it’s actually being used as a cudgel against the Russians by not playing it there,” Colbert said. “It’s one of the sanctions being leveled against Russia that they don’t get this movie. Very powerful.”
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 pm on CBS.
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