Andy Serkis is used to taking on mammoth tasks – but for his Hobbit readathon marathon tomorrow, there’s still some significant things that he hasn’t figured out… like when to go to the loo.
The actor will be hosting the 10-12 hour live event tomorrow [Friday 8 May], reciting the entire book of The Hobbit from start to finish, in order to raise £100,000 for charity.
At the time of writing, it’s already past the halfway mark, with £58,000 pledged by his supporters for NHS Charities together and parenting charity, Best Beginnings.
While chilling out and reading a book aloud sounds incredible, we definitely got anxious on how he’s going to figure out what happens if nature comes calling.
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Andy laughed as he declared: ‘Everyone has said, “How are you gonna do it?” Well, I haven’t worked it out yet!
‘This is a live event. It’s not like I’m recording an audio book, so there will have to be comfort breaks, they’ll have to be drinks. Much like a marathon, which it kind of is, there’ll have to be procedures in place.
‘So, I think what we’ll have to do is have a little sign which we put up, you know, “back in five”.’
‘We’re figuring all that out as we speak,’ he added. ‘I mean, this is the great thing about this isn’t it the whole thing is an adventure, and it’s come together very, very quickly, and so it has that ad hoc feel to it.’
Andy, who played Smeagol/Gollum in the two series, has also promised that for those tuning in there’ll be some surprises in store.
‘I’m sure there will be surprises along the way,’ he told us. ‘JRR Tolkien, he’s the master storyteller, but what he does tend to do is trick you as a reader, because there are often long paragraphs that begin with a lot of detail, then at the end of the paragraph, he’ll say, “said Bilbo”, or “said Thorin”, or, “said Gandalf”, and you don’t get a clue as to who’s talking for a little while.’
Seems like for Andy, 56, that the surprises will be for him as much as those tuning in.
‘I mean, there’s only so much preparation I’ve been able to do on this,’ he laughed. ‘There’s an element of winging it, and there’ll be fun in that.
‘I’m sure I’ll be tripping and fluffing and making all sorts of mistakes. But that’s that’s the nature of it, and the fun of it.
‘So if children come wandering in or cats come jumping up on top of your laptop, or all of those things, they have to be taken into account.’
The Hobbitathon launches at 10am on Friday – running through until the book is complete.
You can donate to the campaign here.
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