content: Im not so sure about that. According to the DVD supplement, the director and the animation team had worked for more than a year to develop the character and had originally intended to do voice work only. Serkis comes along and changes everything including the look of Gollum. The frame artists based their computer modifications closely on Serkis's performance. There is a split screen example of this in the supplement. Though Serkis's performance was interpreted by the animators, it is very much acting in every way from physical movement, to voice, and the emotions he conveys especially in the scene where Smeagol talks to Gollum in split personality. There were certainly alot more people involved in collaborating on the character, insofar that you have animators and not the traditional actor and director. But the performance was all Serkis's. Peter Jackson had a different vision for Gollum until Andy cane along. He defined Gollum and turned in one of the best performances I have ever seen in an epic motion picture.