Already I’m hearing rumblings that people want Andy Serkis to get an Oscar nomination for his performance in War for the Planet of the Apes. I am very skeptical about any performance assisted so heavily by special effects getting nominated for an Academy Awards, and I’m super very skeptical about any awards talk in late June.

All that said: Just watch this video. Watch Serkis’ performance, and then watch how seamlessly it blends into the finished product of Caesar, leader of the Apes. It’s impressive watching the Apes movies, but seeing the finished product alongside Serkis’ actual performance footage, it is nothing short of astonishing. I still think any kind of awards consideration for his work is still a long shot. But a nomination for Best VIsual Effects should be a lock. (The previous two Apes were both nominated, but lost to Hugo and Interstellar, respectively.)

Here’s the official synopsis for War:

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

War for the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on July 14.

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