Gollum in The Lord of the Ring trilogies, Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and King Kong; all have been played by the motion/performance-capture actor Andy Serkis. Now, Serkis is about to embark on a new venture in directing the feature film Jungle Book.

The Jungle Book live-action adaptation should not be any circus for Serkis as he is no stranger to directing and performance-capture. The film however, has had some director issues of its own.  

This is Warner Bros' Jungle Book, and not Disney's Jungle Book, which will be directed by Jon Favreau. Serkis marks the second director to take over this Warner Bros film, the original director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, stepped down due to scheduling conflicts, IGN reported. Director Ron Howard was also in talks with Warner Bros, but the discussions did not go far.  

Callie Kloves is scriptwriter for the adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling stories of the Jungle Book, about a young boy raised by wolves. In 1967, Disney adapted the book into an animated film directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. Jungle Book is in the public domain.

Serkis is no neophyte to directing. He was a second-unit director on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movies, and he helmed some of the filming involved in the creation of the elaborate and lively action sequences, such as the barrel-chase sequence in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.   

Besides Serkis's directing experience, he has been a pioneer in performance-capture, so much so that he has created his London-based production company The Imaginarium, Variety reported. Serkis, in an ever-evolving visual effects world has transformed his characters into memorable icons, from Ceasar to King Kong; he has infused life into them. This year, Serkis will be a CinemaCon Honoree for a Vanguard Award.

Serkis, 49, with his visual effects company The Imaginarium is developing film-making technology, and techniques. Serkis, under his company, will also be directing the performance-capture version of George Orwell's Animal Farm, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.

For Jungle Book, it will produced by Harry Potter scribe Steve Kloves, and produced by Serkis and his company, along with Serkis's business partner Jonathan Cavendish.  

Serkis will be pretty busy promoting the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

On performance-capture, Serkis says, "the cameras capture a facial performance and body movement, but it's authoring the role that interests me. If you are not moved by the character, no amount of CGI will give you a performance that is emotionally engaging or devastating than what a live-action performance does."