Actor and director Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be doing a marathon reading of The Hobbit, cover to cover, to raise money for the NHS.
The continuous reading will be streamed live on Friday, May 8, beginning at 10:00 a.m. GMT (5:00 a.m. EST/2:00 a.m. PST); it is expected to run about 10–12 hours. Details on how to stream the reading will be posted to this GoFundMe page, where he hopes to raise £100,000 to split evenly between the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) and Best Beginnings, an organization that supports families across the UK during early childhood years and is working especially hard during the pandemic. As of this writing, more than £25,000 has already been raised.
Serkis invites everyone to join this special fellowship: “From an unexpected party to the last stage, join Bilbo and me on this tale of high adventure. Together we’ll face the might of the trolls, journey to the magical Rivendell, encounter the giant spiders in the labyrinths of Mirkwood, and the evil goblins living among the roots of the Misty Mountains, until we meet the dragon Smaug, and see the Battle of the Five Armies.”
Knowing his skill with voices, this is going to be quite a treat. And if he hits his fundraising target, there may even be a special surprise or two along the way.
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