Rings Voice May Scoop Oscar

One particular star of the new Lord of the Rings film, The Two Towers, has been hailed by the makers of the film, and by fellow cast members as a potential Oscar winner.

The only problem is that he's computer generated and is therefore ineligible for the award.

The character is Gollum, a former Hobbit called Smeagol who has been inhabited by evil forces since finding the ring. The voice behind the animated anti-hero is that of British actor Andy Serkis, who gave the part all he had.

"I had an emotional root to that sound. It's where Gollum's pain is trapped," he told The Sun.

"He is one of the most memorable creatures in the book. He is the audience's key to what the ring does to you. I played him as an addict - a ring junkie."

It took a thousand drawings and five years of computer based work to get the evil character perfected.

"I am so in awe of the skill, effort and technical wizardry of the animators," the actor added.

Rings producer, Barry Osborne, is positive about Andy's chances at the Academy Awards. "The performance is really driven by Andy. He deserves a nomination for a Supporting Actor Oscar and we are going to campaign for him to get one," he said.

Director Peter Jackson added: "Andy creates the character. He says the dialogue, he plays the scenes and the computer captures his movement and translates that to the digital version of Gollum."

The 38-year-old actor has starred in Steve Coogan's docu-film about the rave culture, 24 Hour Party People and more recently in Deathwatch, opposite Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell.