As the Star Wars: Episode VII cast was officially revealed in April, one of the more surprising additions was Andy Serkis, only because he wasn't one of the seemingly countless actors previously rumored to be joining the cast. As it turns out, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves' longtime friendship with Star Wars: Episode VII filmmaker J.J. Abrams may have lead to the actor's casting.

In a new interview with /Film, Matt Reeves reveals that he showed footage of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to J.J. Abrams for feedback, where he was "blown away" by Andy Serkis' performance.

"I showed him a bit of the movie. I wanted to get some feedback. And I know that he had known and really loved Andy Serkis. But it's the same experience I had coming in and asking to see all the footage of Andy from Rise (of the Planet of the Apes) with him in his helmet cam, so that I could understand exactly what the process was. And the thing that struck me, and actually got me so excited, was the mystery behind how great he is, is that he's great. That he's an amazing actor. And the scenes that I showed him were of Andy just in mo-cap. And he was like "oh my God, he's an incredible actor." He was so blown away."

When asked if that viewing directly lead to Andy Serkis' casting in Star Wars: Episode VII, Matt Reeves had this to say.

And now he's in Star Wars. I don't know if that had a direct... I mean, it could, [and] I think he'd always loved Andy. And they had known each other a bit before, anyway. But I think when he saw it, it was like a real revelation. He said to me, 'that looks - I'm not kidding when I tell you I think that's one of the best performances I've ever seen.' I said 'I know, isn't he amazing?' He's so good."

Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams first started working together as the co-creators of the hit TV series Felicity, and Matt Reeves went on to direct the J.J. Abrams-produced Cloverfield.

This new report certainly lends credence to last week's report that Andy Serkis is playing a motion capture character in Star Wars: Episode VII, but, of course, that has not been confirmed at this time by Disney or LucasFilm.