Andy Serkis - Andy Serkis to direct Animal Farm remake

Andy Serkis to direct Animal Farm remake

Andy Serkis is planning to direct a remake of 'Animal Farm'.

The 'Lord Of The Rings' actor - who made his directorial debut as a second unit helmer on 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' - will step behind the camera for the second time to retell George Orwell's classic novel and promises a ''fresh'' way of looking at the political satire.

Andy said: ''I think we found a rather fresh way of looking at it. It is definitely using performance capture, but we are using an amalgamation of filming styles to create the environments.''

The actor got a taste for directing after Peter Jackson offered to mentor his camera skills on the set of 'The Hobbit' in addition to his role voicing sly creature Gollum.

Allegorical tale 'Animal Farm' tells the story of a farmyard coup which mirrors Stalin's rise to power, but Andy doesn't want to emphasize the political message and wants to concentrate on the emotions.

He added to The Hollywood Reporter: ''We're keeping it fable-istic and [aimed at] a family audience. We are not going to handle the politics in a heavy-handed fashion. It is going to be emotionally centred in a way that I don't think has been seen before.

''The point of view that we take will be slightly different to how it is normally portrayed. We are examining this in a new light.''

To distinguish his version from the 1954 animated film and the 1999 real-life animal TV movie, Andy is considering playing one of the characters himself using motion-capture acting.

He revealed: ''It might well be that I do, but nothing is set in stone yet. At the moment I'm very fixed on the creation of the characters and world from a directorial point of view.''