You’ve likely never seen Andy Serkis, and you very likely won’t until the camera pans to show him as a nominee at the next Academy Awards. Serkis is the human actor behind the creepy voice and complex range of movement of the twisted and obsessive Gollum character in the second film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which you may have heard opens this week. The talk of a possible Oscar nod for Serkis is evidence of the growing seriousness with which virtual characters are being taken in Hollywood.