'Real-Life Gollum' Turns Out To Be Sci-Fi Actor

Pictures emerging earlier this week of what appeared to be a strange, other-worldly creature – dubbed the ‘real-life Gollum’ – snapped in China are actually not as other-worldly as previously thought.

Which is a shame, obviously.

Read more: The surprisingly grown-up references hidden in Disney movies

As it turns out, the hairless, freakish-looking ‘monster’ with large, floppy ears and a loin-cloth was in fact an actor out in the mountains making a sci-fi film, and he’d just nipped off to answer the call of nature.

The pictures were taken by a Chinese tourist while camping with friends in Huairou, Beijing, and had also parted with his group to take a leak.

“I walked far away to have a pee, and suddenly saw a monster. I took a few pictures of it, but I am now terrified by my courage then,” he said.

The pictures later ‘went viral’, but sadly, it appears Gollum is not alive and well and living among us after all.

In response, the nameless actor claimed: “Over the weekend I and my friends went to the mountains to take a mini sci-fi film. 

“And when I was having a pee a person popped up and took pictures of me and shot away.”

So there we have it… your collection of mystical jewellery would appear to be safe.

Unless conspiratorial forces are at work, of course….

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Image credit: Rex/New Line/MGM