Exclusive Interview - Andy Serkis on directing Breathe and Jungle Book

Andy Serkis is spoilt for choice. He loves acting and, inevitably, performance capture and now adds directing to the list as Breathe, his first film as director to reach cinemas, opens in the UK this week. It’s based on the inspirational true story of Robin Cavendish (played by Andrew Garfield) who was diagnosed with polio in the 1950s, a time when the disease was regarded as a death sentence. Despite being given just three months to live and with the support of his determined wife, Diana (Claire Foy), he became one of the longest lived polio survivors in Great Britain.

The film opened this year’s London Film Festival and Serkis was fresh from the gala premiere when he spoke to Flickering Myth’s Freda Cooper about his own, very personal connection with the film and what it demonstrates about attitudes to disability. He also gives a taste of what to expect from his version of Jungle Book when it’s released next year.