Andy Serkis eager for Gollum return

5:11pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Andy Serkis has confessed he can't wait to be Gollum again.

The Lord Of The Rings star is to revive his role as the fantasy creature in prequel The Hobbit and despite the hard work involved in playing the part-computer generated character, he is looking forward to it.

Andy said: "In 2010, if all goes according to plan, I think they're gonna start thinking about The Hobbit.

"It will be nice to drag Gollum kicking and screaming back out again. It will be great."

The 44-year-old British actor was speaking at the royal premiere of A Bunch Of Amateurs where he had been invited to give the Loyal Address to The Queen.

Andy said: "I got asked because my wife Lorraine Ashbourne is in the film so I have to welcome the Royal family and introduce the film."

The actor - who is about to start work filming Tintin, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg - revealed he is directing some projects of his own and feels the British film industry is doing well.

He said: "I think there is actually a lot of optimism surprisingly.

"There's obviously a vast amount of talent here, there's real passion, there's real energy and the film council are doing as much as they can to support it.

"We're all hoping, despite the global financial situation, that things will keep going. In fact there is sort of a notion that there will be kind of a mini-boom. I think great things come out of a big shake-up like this and I'm sure it will rise to the occasion, absolutely."