'Star Wars 7' Casting News, SPOILERS & Rumors: Why Did J.J. Abrams Cast 'Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes' MoCap Star Andy Serkis In 'Episode VII?'

One of J.J. Abrams' biggest casting updates for Star Wars: Episode VII came after he announced the main cast, adding Andy Serkis to the bill. We all know Serkis for his roles in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit movies and the Planet of the Apes prequels, so we can imagine why Abrams wanted the MoCap actor to his cast. Now Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves explains why he thinks Abrams cast Serkis - and it's a very promising reason!

"I showed him a bit of the movie. I wanted to get some feedback. And I know that he had known and really loved Andy Serkis," he told Slashfilm. "But it's the same experience I had coming in and asking to see all the footage of Andy from Rise with him in his helmet cam, so that I could understand exactly what the process was. And the thing that struck me, and actually got me so excited, was the mystery behind how great he is, is that he's great. That he's an amazing actor. And the scenes that I showed him were of Andy just in mo-cap. And he was like 'oh my God, he's an incredible actor.' He was so blown away."

This leads us to believe that MoCap work might not be what Abrams wants out of Serkis in the new Star Wars movie. Perhaps Serkis is going to be on camera as himself and not replaced by CG?

"And now he's in Star Wars. I don't know if that had a direct... I mean, it could, [and] I think he'd always loved Andy. And they had known each other a bit before, anyway," Reeves said. "But I think when he saw it, it was like a real revelation. He said to me, 'that looks - I'm not kidding when I tell you I think that's one of the best performances I've ever seen.' I said 'I know, isn't he amazing?' He's so good."

Serkis is great. If you've seen his work in other films, you'd agree.

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