Black Beauty to be played by motion-captured Andy Serkis in new film

Producers of a new version of Black Beauty have announced that the titular horse will be played by motion capture expert Andy Serkis.

The film will tell the traditional story of how an ordinary horse went on to star the Lloyd’s Bank adverts for nearly two decades.

“I think that in past versions of Black Beauty, technological limitations have meant that the lead role of Black Beauty has had to be taken by a horse,” said producer Kathleen Ford.

“This has lead to really quite a basic performance.

“However, now we have computers and technology and Internets and whatnot, we can actually have a talented actor take the role and bring a real humanity to the performance of a horse that a horse is unable to capture.

“I’ve seen the work he’s doing and I’m convinced its the best performance of a horse from an actor since Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando worked together in pantomime.”

It is understood that Serkis has been preparing for the role of Black Beauty by living as a horse since Christmas and even running convincingly in this year’s Grand National.

When asked if he was relishing the challenge of bringing the much-loved story to the big screen, the Gollum star whinnied, stamped his feet on the ground and galloped off to eat a nice apple.