Andy Serkis has joined the cast of the dark comedy 'Flarksy'.

Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis

The 50-year-old actor - who is best known for his role as Gollum in the 'Lord of the Rings' franchise - will star as an international media mogul in the new comedy, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Serkis - who has recently released his directorial debut 'Breathe' starring Andrew Garfield - will star alongside Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron.

The film, which is to be helmed by Jonathan Levine - who worked with Rogen on the cancer comedy '50/50' - will be distributed by Lionsgate and is currently shooting in Montreal.

'Flarksy' follows Fred Flarksy (Rogen) who is a down-on-his luck journalist who decides to try to pursue his childhood crush and former babysitter (Theron) who has go on to become the Secretary of State.

Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver are producing through their Point Grey banner alongside Theron.

The film is also slated to be released in February 2019.

Serkis - who is known for his motion capture roles - recently revealed he "misses" the character of Caesar, the ape he brought to life in the 'Planet of the Apes' franchise and slammed those who discredit motion capture acting, as he says the art form is "no different" than live-action acting.

Speaking to Deadline, he said: "There is no difference from an acting point of view. The approach is no different to a live-action role. It's not standing in a voice booth for two hours every six months, it's living with that character day-in and day-out on set for the entire duration of the shoot, living and breathing every single moment, making acting choices that you would do in the conventional sense. The performance is not augmented or changed by a committee of animators. It is honoured, and the fidelity is sought to translate that performance. In the past, it's almost felt like performance capture is kind of like a drug-assisted sport. Now that's just not true. The performance is the performance."