Andy Serkis embarks on 12-hour live 'Hobbitathon,' reading full Tolkien novel for charity

As we all desperately search for ways to pass the time during quarantine, Andy Serkis has found a pretty good one.

The Lord of the Rings actor behind Gollum has begun a live stream on which he's reading the entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for charity amid the coronavirus crisis. The whole "Hobbitathon" is set to run a whopping 12 hours, and Serkis, who's seated next to a glorious Gollum statue the entire time, has just passed the three-hour mark.

Viewers can donate on a GoFundMe page that's raising money for Best Beginnings and NHS Charities Together, "two amazing charities which are doing extraordinary work right now to help those most in need in the UK," Serkis said. More than £160,000 has already been raised with many, many hours left to go, and Serkis previously teased a "special surprise" should the original target of £100,000 be donated.

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"I just thought, look, everyone is under such stressful conditions, being in isolation for so long," Serkis recently told BBC. "I wanted to find some way of alleviating, or taking people on an adventure, or doing something which could take them out of this insular world that we've been living in." Serkis noted, though, that the 12-hour marathon will certainly be a "physical challenge."

Join Serkis on his unexpected journey below. Brendan Morrow