Planet Of the Apes star Andy Serkis is turning Cate Blanchett into a snake for The Jungle Book

MOTION capture guru Andy Serkis had no trouble getting A-list actors to put on the hi-tech suits for his new movie ... including Cate Blanchett.

Motion capture expert Andy Serkis worked on the Planet of the Apes movies. Picture: Supplied

MOTION capture expert Andy Serkis says that Cate Blanchett is “phenomenal” in his coming version of The Jungle Book.

The Aussie two-time Oscar-winner plays the snake Kaa in the version being directed by Serkis, alongside fellow Oscar-winner Christian Bale as panther Bagheera, and Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch as the villainous tiger Shere Khan.

Serkis was forced to push the release date of his version of the beloved tale back to 2018 after Jon Favreau’s Jungle Book came out last year and took more than $1 billion at the box office.

Serkis, most famous for his playing Gollum in the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, is still working on the film using his state of the art technology and this month had his LOTR co-star Blanchett slithering around on the floor in a motion capture suit.

“I was working with her a couple of weeks ago,” Serkis said. “You should see her — and one day you will. You will some amazing footage of her doing just that and it’s phenomenal.”

Serkis, the world’s premiere motion capture expert thanks to his work as Gollum, King Kong and Caesar the chimp in the Planet Of the Apes trilogy, says that it’s now easy to attract A-list talent to what was once seen as a gimmick, with actors excited by the possibilities it presents.

Cate Blanchett will voice the snake Kaa in Andy Serkis’ coming version of The Jungle Book.

“There is a sense of actors wanting this,” he said. “Philosophically it offers you so much. Your career can go on and you can keep expanding and changing into different things and you can play anything. When you have had a long career like Cate or Benedict Cumberbatch or Christian Bale, to then have the ability to go ‘wow, there is this whole other world where I can play all these different things’. You can play a panther or tiger and fully embody it — not just stand in a booth and do a voice but to really become it and own it. It is a phenomenal 21st Century tool for an actor.”

Andy Serkis returns for a third time as Caesar the chimpanzee in War For the Planet of the Apesand drew on inspiration from former US President Barack Obama this time around.

Serkis will play the highly evolved chimpanzee Caesar for a third time in War For the Planet Of the Apes, which opens on July 27. Having based earlier versions of the character on real-life chimps who were kept for long periods in captivity, Serkis used some surprising human inspirations this time around.

“He was becoming more human and I was looking for more human leader comparisons so I did very much think of Gandhi and Barack Obama actually — I thought he was a very strong example of the empathetic nature of a leader and the ability to not necessarily lead with force but to lead by lead by listening and to empower the troops. I think that is the strength of great leadership.”

Originally published as Planet Of the Apes star Andy Serkis is turning Cate Blanchett into a snake for The Jungle Book