Andy Serkis's Animal Farm adaptation criticized as defanged happy ending overhaul
Dude who radically changed important details about Animal Farm and justified it by saying Orwell would have liked it is very insistence that casting black people to play Hobbits would just be weird and not faithful to the Shire.
LittleKuriboh181One thing I’d wanna say to the crowds of folks who insist “they should cast whoever is appropriate for the role” is that Andy Serkis’ last directorial feature had Seth Rogen playing Napoleon the pig.
Faulerro80He’s not just a clown at this point, he’s the entire Serkis.
Kris Dobbins40Meanwhile Magic the Gathering's LotR set
brushimp.bsky.social21I am starting to thin maybe Andy isn't the best creative guy when it comes to this sorta thing. Like removing the fact that Animal farm is not exactly about Communism but about the dangers of violent revolution being able to lead to military dictatorship (The pig being called Napoleon is not subtle)
Bob12Holy shit he just called the hobbits of The Shire White Nationalists. Holy shit
Transmasc Tiefling 9Well, at least if Vox Machina decides to recast him for being fuckin racist, his entire performance as Vecna would have been better performed by Andrew Wincott anyway.
Increasingly, Serkis makes me feel like he’s making this movie for the toxic bros. Pro-AI, all-white cast, ignoring Tolkien’s real words for the vibes-based mythologizing of him; all shit toxic bros love. He also made the Animal Farm movie that completely missed the books anti-authoritarian point.
![Variety tweet with a picture of Gollum from LOTR that reads - Andy Serkis gets asked why his "Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum" cast is all white actors and says: "I don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film."
“Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling. The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know… They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in. Yes, there have been criticisms [about a lack of diversity]. This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But I don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it’s where relevant basically." (via BBC)
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Hyde T. Voltyge32I've just learned from people commenting on here that he's done two Angel Studios films also. Ulysses Klaue, racist South African billionaire was... a fitting role it seems.
Benjamin Ahr Harrison27So annoying how much fascists love and don’t understand these stories.
Sara The Fat Culture Critic 🇨🇦18It’s telling he can only see diverse casting as box ticking and can’t imagine being thoughtful about it including nonwhite people in the decision making.
🐈⬛17I was rereading Fellowship of the Ring last night, Hobbits are described as "brown" in the book. Not white. They're brown. Casting white actors, while I've seen the skill of said actors, is unfaithful to the book. He doesn't have a leg to stand on there.
The Red Jaws15I get the impression that Serkis is just a thoughtless "hollywood liberal" who is only "liberal" because he looks down his nose at "trailer park types"
Asaji13Ryan Coogler was on point when casted him as a southafrican burglar on Black Panther
Will Burrows 🖖🥖🥀37Holy shit re: how much this Serkis quote gives the game away about what "white" means
Mao Mao!12Really fascinating they're dedicated to anti-hyping this movie. Just committed to make the most rancid vibes possible.
Eric Ravenscraft9there was a time i really looked up to this dude. and i don't think anyone who worked on LotR has done quite as much to torpedo my opinion of them
Emperor Norton6Serkis's point about the Shire is particularly idiotic because The Scouring makes it clear how the isolationism of the hobbits made them easy prey for Saruman, and they are only able to defeat him because of the skills & leadership the fellowship four learned from their time in the outside world
Ward Yke2I feel the urge to point out that the Shire is based on ... Iceland. Iceland, that for many legal matters doesn't distinguish between residents and citizens. If you wanna justify keeping foreigners out of a place, then modeling it after Iceland of all places is a bold choice, to say the least
Rootbeercutiebooty2I'd deal with real Golem than Serkis at this point
Ulrike2If there's one thing the Trump administration has taught is, it's that anti-DEI hiring never means hiring the *best* option. It just means hiring any ol' white person, no matter how mediocre.
Serkis just made a *very* weird Animal Farm animated film distributed by Angel Studios, a Utah-based Christian film company so, like, yeah this checks out.
anothercultland15In an appropriately Orwellian twist, his version of Animal Farm completely changed the point of the story.
Maxie Canoe10Angel studios is basically the propaganda team for the real life "Sons of Jacob" from the handmaid's tale that is the Heritage foundation, so serkis working with them is a huge condemnation of character.
Brian “Rip McStudly” Porter5He was in Angel’s Young Washington too
Alice last name3Goddammit.... this is why we can't have nice things....
masteroftrades.bsky.social1I was wonder if he was always like that or is he afraid of the backlash from racist losers like Elon Musk
I haven’t heard anything about Young Washington, but apparently Animal Farm was REALLY bad.
Tulpa King (aka Admiral Snackbar)153It’s hard to do Animal Farm when you sympathize with fascists
MossCoveredStones2At one point Kelsey Grammer (in costume) in not so subtle terms tells the audience to see the movie two or more times because their cause is righteous. Aka: please give us more monies for this AI slop.
Has there ever been an actor who burned all his good will this quickly? From the MCU and Andor to a Christofash mangling of Animal Farm and the kind of Tolkien adaptation meant to appeal only to those appropriating Tolkien's names to nightmare tech.
Ziggy, Tabletop Taurus8My sibling in Eru Illuvatar, you are making a movie out of throwaway lines. You can do what ever you want and you're sticking with the "it's European inspired which means only white people" garbage mindset beloved by the ignorant.
😸 Hugo the pink cat 😸1What is it with all these actors showing their asses lately?!
Here's the thing... All of the Lord of the Rings movies were pretty racists as fuck with their framing. The freaking orcs were Black. All the heroes were fair skin or White. Andy Serkis is just following the blueprint.
vy8Hey when you are filming a fantasy story involving magic, elves, and dragons, you have to be realistic, I guess.
That Preppy Black Girl6Haven’t read the books. Haven’t seen the movies. Have no desire to do either.
Author Glenn Hall 🏳️🌈💙 🪷🍌🟦4This is the sad result of corporations proclaiming that someone in a motion capture suit is a "genius."
Adam “TurboLib” Sessler 🇺🇦3After his happy ending for Animal Farm this is all fitting a picture.
HR Ryan2The books are problematic in that regard too.