Actor Andy Serkis has the internet gasping after doing an impression of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a Ukraine-obsessed monster earlier this week.
But this wasn't just any impression--it was an impression of Putin as Gollum, Serkis' most iconic character from The Lord of the Rings franchise. And fans are in disbelief at the accuracy.
Serkis unveiled the impression Wednesday night during a visit to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. See the impression at the 3:30 mark below.
Of course Putin obviously doesn't sound like Gollum, but the spirit of the character certainly overlaps with the whole vibe of a power-hungry, murderous dictator seemingly bent on mutual destruction, doesn't it?
The impression came as Serkis was telling Colbert, an LOTR superfan, about the 132 different characters he voiced in a set of The Lord of the Rings audiobooks. But when it came to Gollum, the ring-obsessed creature for whom Serkis did the award-winning voice and motion capture work for the LOTR franchise, Serkis put a new spin on the old favorite character.
As he explained to Colbert, he imagined Gollum and his alter-ego Smeagol having a debate on how to go about invading Ukraine and navigating the rest of the world's response to Putin's illegal and unprovoked war.
As Serkis described it, the debate went like this:
“Gollum was on the side and Sméagol was on this side."
“And he would say things like, ‘We wants it. We needs 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.’”
Of course, LOTR fans on Twitter were wowed by Serkis' spot-on impression.
Here's hoping Putin has more sense than Gollum did.
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