Would Gollum have been better unanimated?

[Galendor]

I also love the film Nosferatu. Willem (or any actor) would have the written Tolkien description to base his acting on, which would probably be more information to base a character on than given in most Hollywood scripts. The same information any of the actors in these movies had.

As far as stunts go, I doubt Orlando Bloom can actually swing around a brontosaurus-sized oiliphant and slide down its trunk, but he appeared to do so in the movie. There are obviously movie-magic methods of making it appear as if the human actor performs inhuman feats. The same methods could have been applied where needed to make non-animated Gollum appear to climb up a cliff or whatever else.

I simply propose that animated Gollum was unnecessary and overdone: a real actor would have been less freakish, but perhaps more haunting, more real. And more consistent with the other main characters, and perhaps his true nature as Tolkien intended (a Hobbit, wasted away by the Ring, guilt, and time). But it is a small matter, and speculation.