Four Legs Very, Very Good: Andy Serkis Plans Motion-Capture \'Animal Farm\'

Jim Ross for The New York Times Do these seemingly simple farm animals have revolution on their minds?

Having portrayed such memorable motion-capture creatures as Caesar, the rebellious chimpanzee of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”; the titular primate in Peter Jackson's remake of “King Kong”; and whatever the heck Gollum is in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, Andy Serkis is continuing to add to his on-screen menagerie. His performance-capture studio, called the Imaginarium, said that it has acquired the rights to George Orwell's parable “Animal Farm” for a film that Mr. Serkis will direct and act in; he will also produce the film with the studio's co-founder, Jonathan Cavendish.

“We are delighted to officially announce our involvement in bringing this classic yet controversial fable to life, hopefully allowing it to resonate for our times with a combination of a fresh perspective, real emotional heart, a great deal of humor and satire,” Mr. Serkis said in a statement. “By utilizing performance capture, a deeply talented and committed cast of actors will be able to explore and fully inhabit Orwell's fairy tale world where ‘some animals are more equal than others.' ”

“Animal Farm” has been adapted for film before: as a traditional hand-drawn animated feature in 1954 (which bowdlerized Orwell's original ending); and as a made-for-TV movie in 1999 which featured Kelsey Grammer providing the voice of the pig Snowball, and Patrick Stewart the voice of the pig Napoleon.

The studio said it had also obtained the film rights to “The Bone Season,” a coming dystopian novel by Samantha Shannon about a clair voyant 19-year-old living in the year 2059.

No release date was immediately announced for the Imaginarium's adaptation of “Animal Farm,” nor which of its four-legged inhabitants Mr. Serkis plans to play.