News Blog

words by Melonie
with contributions by Rachel

When Dorian Mirth first heard Andy Serkis was coming to Salt Lake City, we instantly tried to come up with ideas for some clever gift or other that we could give him as a small token of our thanks. It was some weeks before Rachel came up with the perfect idea: a Road Cone. (If this doesn’t make sense to you, please refer to “The Making of ‘The Long and the Short of It’” on the theatrical edition of The Two Towers DVD. Thank you.) The task fell to my shoulders, the only unemployed and graduated member, to go on a cone quest. After checking MANY stores, I finally found the perfect thing: a 2″ toy road cone. I took it out of the toy set it came with and put it on a key chain. I made a tag, which read: “To Andy Serkis. With deepest appreciation from Dorian Mirth.”

I arrived at Borders, road cone key chain in hand, and was astonished to find an already ample line. I found our makeup artist, and called Rachel who was sitting in the café with Gina and members of UtahLOTR. Once I knew where everyone was, I left Shawn in the line and purchased my own copy of Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic. I then returned to the line to wait, and wait, and wait.

Because of the set up, we opted to leave me in the autographing line while Gina and Rachel stayed in the café to listen to the Q&A. When Mr. Serkis finally arrived there was a general outburst from the crowd. Those in the café who could actually see him at that point were cheering the loudest, though the rest of us joined in when we realized what was happening. I was in such a position in line that I couldn’t really hear what was said very well. Rachel, however heard everything.

She told me she was struck by his appearance and presence of mind – she had expected someone who had been in New York the day before, after which having flown to Salt Lake and done a radio show, to look a tad more sleep-deprived. But Mr. Serkis was smiling, enthusiastic, and friendly. With a crowd of nearly 1,000, he was understandably overwhelmed (and even said so!). He was courteous enough to keep checking to make sure that those in faraway corners could hear him.

He started out by talking about how and why the books were written, after which he read a passage from the book. To everyone’s immense delight, he then read the Gollum/Smeagol debate scene from THE TWO TOWERS, followed by thunderous applause. At this point he opened up the floor to questions. Among Rachel’s favorites was one in which a child asked how old he was. He was quite taken back by this question, to the amusement of all, and fumbled out the reply, “Um… uh… 31.”

During the whole Q&A session, he was very good about connecting with people visually and really making everyone feel important. The room was quite dark and Rachel and Gina were happily situated directly underneath one of the brighter lights and directly in front of him. Rachel’s blonde hair must have made her stand out even more, giving her a sort of halo. What this meant was that he made eye contact with her quite frequently, and when he was told he could only take one more question, he chose Rachel!! Of course, being the sweet man he is, he said, “I’m only supposed to take one more question but I’ll take 5 quick questions…”

Rachel was a bit nervous, as her question was not quite what could be classified as “quick” so she spilled it out in a big garbled mess. He laughed and asked her to repeat the question. She tried again:

Rachel: “If the ring had been destroyed…”
Andy: “Uh-huh…”
Rachel: “And Gollum had survived…”
Andy: “Yeah…”
Rachel: “How would that have affected the dynamic between Gollum and Smeagol before they were ultimately destroyed?”
Andy: “These were supposed to be quick questions! Smeagol would say , ‘Why did you do that?!’ Next question!”

When the Q&A was over, the Borders staff immediately started herding the café people out the door and the line people toward the table where Mr. Serkis was sitting. I was growing concerned about the road cone key chain. Every person I’d told about it didn’t understand; why a road cone? I was paranoid, thinking Mr. Serkis wouldn’t get it either. What if he thought it was stupid? Would I be able to explain it properly? I had fleeting thoughts of not even giving it to him. However, I also knew I’d regret it forever if I didn’t.

Before long, I was next in line (they were really hurrying people through, no time for chatting!) and all the clever things I had thought to say regarding our road cone gift, or seeing him at the Oscar Party left my brain. Rachel, luckily, had positioned herself in such a way that she was taking pictures of me giving the gift to Andy. Mr. Serkis was in a mode (and who wouldn’t be with such a line!) and was basically just signing away, barely getting the chance to look at who was giving him the books to sign. While Andy was signing my book, I pulled out the road cone and slid it on the table into his view.

I said, “This is for you, from Dorian Mirth.” It only took a millisecond, but Mr. Serkis started laughing. He said, looking at it, “this is GREAT! This is really fantastic!” Then, picking it up and looking up at me, continued, “This is really great! I like this! Thank you!” I started to say ‘You’re welcome!’ and ‘Thank YOU!’ but was ushered off to the side by the poor people who had to keep the line moving. At that point, I was so pleased that Andy had actually understood the joke of the whole key chain thing that I didn’t care. I was also shaking and bouncing off the walls. Mr. Andy Serkis liked our gift! What’s more, he was so sincerely surprised and pleased I was sure he’d never been given a road cone before. I must say the other members of Dorian Mirth and I shared a moment of sheer joy at the thought of our cleverness.

Mr. Serkis is a most generous celebrity and we were all thrilled and honored to meet him a second time. Here’s to (hopefully!) a third in February!! I hope someday he follows the link I wrote on the key chain and checks out our site. Wouldn’t THAT be amazing?