It’s fashionable in certain circles to trash CGI animation in big sci-fi films as unrealistic, expensive and just not as much fun as back in the days when stuntmen put on big plastic outfits to play world-wrecking monsters. But putting on a motion sensor suit and “acting” in front of a big blue wall isn’t the easiest job in the world.

Which is why Andy Serkis keeps getting work.

Fantasy film fans will remember Serkis as the diminutive actor who brought Gollum/Smeagol to life in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Though his face was almost completely covered in CG imagery to turn the British actor into the reclusive, ring-obsessed hobbit, Serkis’ body language, expressions and voice brought the character to life.

Since then, Serkis played King Kong in Jackson’s remake of the monster classic and has signed on to reprise a much younger Gollum in The Hobbit. Now EmpireOnline reports that the 46-year-old actor is also set to star as Caesar in the upcoming Planet of the Apes reboot/prequel Rise of the Apes.

The role, played by Roddy McDowell in the original Apes pics, has been tweaked for the new film, with a backstory that finds Caesar as the subject of scientist James Franco’s experiments.

Ape gets experimented on, ape starts to talk, Franco(’s character) freaks and all hell breaks loose. At least, that’s the plot summary we’ve seen. Along with Franco, Freida Pinto and John Lithgow have also joined the cast. Rupert Wyatt is directing.

Shooting on Apes is set to start later this summer in beautiful British Columbia, so the film can be ready for theatres by June 2011.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation