Serkis dedicates the book "to those who live, or have lived in a dark, lonely cave of their own, whether driven by incurable obsession or powerless to change their course." This dedication is the crux of Serkis' performance. The lives that addicts lead, ever obsessed with their next fix, and the isolated pains that the addict goes through, make up a large portion of Serkis performance. He delves into the psychological traumas of junkies, showing how Gollum is essentially a ring junkie yearning ever for the precious. The rest of his performance was inspired by the experiences of concentration camp survivors and Tolkien's work. At first the question may be asked what does a concentration camp survivor have to do with an addict, both are completely different circumstances: an addict is obsessed over a fix, and a concentration camp survivor during the Holocaust was subject to Nazi torture and oppression. Serkis incorporates the loss of identity and self and the pain suffered under Nazi domination. The binding qualities here are the loss of self and oppression. The concentration camp survivor looses the self because of the oppression and victimization of the circumstance, and the total loss of control. The addict again looses the self, and is prey to a kind of oppression-- but one that is ultimately inflicted by the self: control is lost, but only through a loss of self-control. Serkis went as far as shaving his head and body hair, and both the pains of the addict and the survivor of oppressed are perfectly captured. The last ingredient of Serkis' identity and self and the pain suffered under Nazi domination. The binding qualities here are the loss of self and oppression. The concentration camp survivor looses the self because of the oppression and victimization of the circumstance, and the total loss of control. The addict again looses the self, and is prey to a kind of oppression-- but one that is ultimately inflicted by the self: control is lost, but only through a loss of self-control. Serkis went as far as shaving his head and body hair, and both the pains of the addict and the survivor of oppressed are perfectly captured. The last ingredient of Serkis'

Throughout Gollum: How we made movie magic, the reader is swept into the whirlwind of Serkis' enthusiasm and dedication to portraying this ill-fated character. The beauty of this book is that he pauses to reflect and question Gollum/Smeagol's action, and works through the character's psychology. These questioning pauses shows the growth of what he goes through as an actor and the evolution of Gollum from Serkis' exploration of the character's psyche into the actual performance.

The challenges of portraying Gollum are well documented and illustrated. Serkis wanted to be taken seriously, rather than have his performance be just a "reference pass" for the other actors to work with. Serkis had his fears allayed as he proved his realization of the character: he was "becoming" Gollum. Through this journey the bumps in the road, his frustrations, and personal hardships are also brought to light. It is from his overcoming these odds that the CGI Gollum was shaped by his performance, not the reverse.

The disintegration of Smeagol into Gollum is physically Serkis' characteristics in lessening grades of dissolution. The endpoint as Gollum is a computer-enhanced reality of what Serkis would have looked like after hundreds of years of agony. The slow collapse of his physical characteristics reflect the mental descent into madness, as Smeagol becomes Gollum.

From the reviews of Return of the King, I understand the Smeagol-Deagol scene opens the film. This scene inspired by Fran Walsh illustrates not only this victim of circumstance, but will strengthen his ultimate betrayal of Frodo and Sam, and Gollum's success at Mt. Doom: a quality that Jackson preserved from book to film. "Give us that Deagol, My love," the title of the seventh chapter in Serkis' book, in my opinion best portrays how this scene unfolded in production and inspiration. Not only do we get an excellent picture of Smeagol's social class, but his psychology before, and after murdering Deagol for the ring. Serkis' thought-provoking questions are abundant as he asks, How quickly does [Gollum] fall prey to the ring? Is he racked by the guilt of Deagol's murder? Is he driven by lust? What is the significance of the ring being found on his birthday? The scene will also tell us how Smeagol was exiled from his community and the beginning of his self-imposed isolation. The paranoia, self-pity, and psychological breakdown transform him physically, as he physically corrodes from the ring's grasp on him. This scene will leave a lasting impression upon us all, if the pictures are any indication the performance. I will be very upset if it does not garner any awards for those involved.

In the extended version of The Two Towers it was offensive to see Gollum being kicked around by Faramir's Rangers. Peter Jackson dubbed this, Serkis tells us "The Clockwork Orange" scene. Why was it offensive? Because Men of the West do not do such things to their prisoners. In the books Gollum was only tortured by those of Mordor and Isengard. He was treated fairly by the elves. So kindly and fairly, in fact, that Gollum managed to escape during one of his privileged reprieves from physical bondage. Being a New Yorker and witness to the events of 9/11, I find it hard to swallow when I am told that Serkis found inspiration in the "tortured" expression of a Taliban soldier on TV. Having been called over by a camera technician to watch the planes hit the World Trade Center on CNN on that fateful day, he tells us that the Northern Alliance captured a Taliban soldier, beat him, stripped him of his clothes, and paraded him in the streets. This event was documented on CNN. Perhaps an actor cannot determine or choose where he or she gets inspiration from. But, to say that Gollum is like a captured Taliban criminal is frankly outrageous. The Taliban are terrorists, and aims to destroy the West. They are not victims of oppression. They are the oppressors. How can inspiration be gleaned from them? Gollum is a victim of circumstance. He is a victim of oppression. He did not have to kill Deagol. Did the ring make him do it? Possibly but he is not a terrorist purposely plotting the harm of thousands of people. He killed to survive, to eat, to live. Whether the food consisted of babies, fish, game, or plant life, he killed to survive, rather than to plot the abstract destruction of a culture. This scene gave great offense, because rather than an homage to Kubrick, it likened the West to the Shadow. This further denigrated Tolkien's works, and further belittled the audience watching the films. This was the one aspect of the book to film process, of translating the character's film that I did not care for.

This book is written with passion and care for the material. It is written in a way, which intertwines all the influences into a unique enlightening narrative, which is easily understood. A cute aspect of the book is the illustrations of Gollum/Smeagol's face on the top corner of each page, which if you flip the book quickly, the character goes through a series of expressions. Aside from the few political commentaries that I found personally disagreeable, the book is overall well written, and enlightens us all to how Gollum was brought to life. It was a book that needed to be written. Serkis' story needed to be told, and who better than Serkis to tell it?