Andy Serkis On Helping Mark Ruffalo Perfect His Hulk For AGE OF ULTRON

There are motion-capture artists, and then there's Andy Serkis. If Mark Ruffalo wanted to improve upon his first performance as the Incredible Hulk in 2012's The Avengers, he couldn't ask for a better teacher. Speaking to Variety, Serkis spoke about what he exactly taught Ruffalo to make his Hulk even more "smashing" in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Specifically, Serkis is a consultant for The Imaginarium Studios, a firm that specializes in performance capture technology and who've been contracted to work on Star Wars: Episode VII and the Avengers sequel.  While Serkis didn't talk about Episode VII, he did peel back a few layers on what he's doing on Age of Ultron.  Said Serkis, "The Imaginarium is the performance capture consultant, and I’m playing a role [in both, Age of Ultron and Episode VII]. On ‘The Avengers,’ I’ve been working closely with Mark Ruffalo.  Performance capture was used on the previous “Hulk,” but not to the same extent Mark is using it now. There are tools and ways of working with an actor that makes them feel that they own the character. And a character the size of the Hulk needs ownership, which Mark has now."

'There are tools and ways of working with an actor that makes them feel that they own the character.'  Ruffalo's performance as the Hulk back in 2012 was universally praised, so it will be intersting to see just what this "next level" Serks is implying Ruffalo is taking his performance to, entails.  There were earlier rumors that the Hulk would be running around naked for a bit of the film so maybe that's the deeper level of motion capture needed from Ruffalo?  Hopefully, we'll get our first look at the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, as surely the cast and crew won't show up without footage, right?