Andy Serkis is set to embark on a continuous live reading of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit from start to finish to raise money for charities amid the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The British star — best known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films — will start his “armchair marathon” at 10 a.m. in the U.K. on Friday, and said he wasn’t expected to finish until 10 p.m. that evening.
“So many of us are struggling in isolation during the lockdown,” he said in a video. “While times are tough, I want to take you on one of the greatest fantasy adventures ever written, a 12-hour armchair marathon across Middle Earth whilst raising money for two amazing charities, which are doing extraordinary work right now to help those most in need.”
Money raised will be split between NHS Charities Together, the umbrella organization overseeing all the official charities of the U.K.’s National Health Service, and Best Beginnings, which works to support babies, toddlers, pregnant families and new parents and aims to reduce inequality.
Serkis is currently working on Venom sequel Venom: Let Their Be Carnage, explaining in the video that he would spend the coronavirus lockdown editing the film.
