Actor from across the sea seen by as many fans as a truly great scott. This morning our tracy smith pays him a visit. May the force be with you. Reporter Ewan Macgregor played everything from a jedi to a junky. But his latest role is something both new and very familiar. What was it like playing a dad . I loved it. It comes very naturally because ive been one for a long time, you know. Reporter the roles and real life of Ewan Macgregor later on sunday morning. Osgood downtown abbey is a tv hit series about life in a downtown manor in life gone by. Martha teichner has discovered more. Reporter the hard part was not getting in the way. And action. Reporter we were on the set as season 3 of downtown abbey was being shot. Ive given my life to downtown. Reporter for a downtown fan like me, it was an adjustment realizing the phenomenon is fictional. His wardrobe or his house or his heating bills thankfully. Reporter behind the the scenes of downtown abbey later this sunday morning. Osgood bruno mars is one of the biggest names in the music world today but his success was anything but written in the stars. Hell be talking about it with our lee cowan. Reporter he is pop musics stylish wonderkid. Bruno mars has taken the charts by storm. But his first label dropped him. He almost didnt get another. Why would we sign you if they didnt get you right . Its your fault you know. Reporter how bruno mars bounced back. Later on sunday morning. Osgood the way hollywood special effects people create vivid images is about much more than technology alone. As far as we the viewers are concerned, its magic. Anthony mason goes behind the scenes with andy serkis. Reporter the the face isnt familiar. I like the and anonimity that i have. Reporter . The voice should be. As gollum in the blockbuster lord of the rings trilogy and now the hobbit, andy serkis pioneered acting for computer animation. Ahead, the man who created gollum. Or the gollum who created the man. Reporter andy serkis, later on sunday morning. Osgood Steve Hartman introduces us to a couple who made football a family affair. We get a visit from technoclause, our david pogue bearing gifts. Well be remember jazz great dave brbake. But first the headlines for this sunday morning the ninth of december 2012. An american doctor abducted by the taliban five days ago in afghanistan has been rescued. He was freed early today in a joint u. S. Afghan operation ordered after intelligence revealed that his life was in danger. In a televised speech last night venezuelas president hugo chavez revealed that his cancer has returned. Chavez travels to cuba today for his third cancer operation in 18 months. Governor of south africa says that 94yearold Nelson Mandela is in the hospital for tests. The former president is said to be doing well. Floridas former republican governor Charlie Crist has switched political parties. Hes now a democrat. Speculation crist may run for governor again in 2014 challenging the republican who currently holds office, governor rick scott. In Washington State dozens of samesex couples waited in line overnight. Today is the first day that they can legally marry there. In sports, texas a ms quarterback Johnny Manzel became the first freshman ever to win College FootballsHeisman Trophy last night. Known official as Johnny Football led the aggies to a 102 record this season including last months upset victory over then top ranked alabama. At the 113th armynavy game in philadelphia yesterday, army looking to avoid its 11th Straight Loss to the mid shipmen launched a drive later in the game only to see it come to not with this fumble. Navy sunk the army 1713 and took home the coveted commander in chiefs trophy yet again. Police have charged Dallas Cowboys nose tackle josh brent with intoxication manslaughter after a crash that killed teammate jerry browne. The practice squad linebacker died when brents car overturned after hitting a curb early yesterday. Brent was arrested after he reportedly failed a sobriety test. Heres todays weather. A line of storms is bringing snow and cold to the upper midwest. And rain from texas to connecticut. The week ahead will be mostly cool but mostly free of rain or snow. Next. Youre publishing as youre watching. Osgood do it yourself. And later oh. There you go. Wooohooo. Hahaahahaha im gonna stand up to her no youre not. I know. You know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. How happy are they jimmy . Happier than a witch in a broom factory. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Osgood even john lennon, the famous beatle needed a publisher for his first book in his own right back in 1964. Today authors nobody ever heard had can publish their own work all by themselves in their own right, as it were. Our cover story is reported now by rit a braver. Reporter what were you living in when you wrote the first book. We had 700 square feet that was. That was finished. Reporter Richard Paul Evans went from that Salt Lake City house to this one all because of a little tale he wrote for his daughters. You didnt think okay, i want to sell this and people are going to buy this and everyone will fall in love with this book. The idea of being a novelist is really romantic but its kind of the same as being a president of the united states. Its like its not going to happen. Reporter but it did happen for rick evans. You may remember the Christmas Box, a mega hit 20 years ago. So this is the original little book that you published. Evans first printed only 20 copies of the book but in the days before the internet took off, friends started passing dogeared copies around. And bookstores started asking for it. At that point i thought, you know maybe i should send this to publishers. They all quickly rejected the book. Reporter so evans selfpublished. Only after his book hit the best seller list, did a major publisher buy it for a reported 4 million. So in a way he became a godfather to a whole new generation of authors who are writing the next chapter in the saga of selfpublishing. A title page. The chapters are separated. So im good to go. Reporter take Stephanie Bond who is issuing her latest work right from her atlanta home. This is is actually a boxed set. I called the boxed set love can be murder. Reporter thats right. With just a few strokes, bond is creating an electronic or ebook. Youre publishing as youre watching. Right. Eporter its one of the strongest trends in publishing. With estimates that more than 200,000 books were selfpublished last year. Authors like bond bypassing the traditional publishing houses. For the longest time publishers have been able to dictate what is on the shelf. Theyve been the gatekeepers. Reporter but not anymore. Bond did have 60 books mostly romance novels, published the traditional way before she struck out on her own. Was it a little scary . It was but at that point i really didnt have a choice. My publisher had decided that they were going to drop the series that i had written. I didnt have any money coming in. Reporter but now with romance one of the hottest categories for selfpublished books, her novels are flying off the virtual shelves. This past week a bond book was number two on amazons kindle best seller list. Although she no longer gets advances or upfront payments for her work, she creates royalties of up to 70 instead of the 1015 publishers usually pay. And even with charging only 99 cents for some books bond says she made more than half a Million Dollars in the last year. But not everyone sees this as a bonanza. When you price a book at 99 cents, 1. 99 i personally think it devalues the authors time and effort. Reporter how long have you been in the world of publishing . Ive been about 35 years. Reporter jamie rabb is the chief of Grand Central publishing part of the book company. Her label puts out books by a lot of heavy hitters and many lesser known writers too. You know that there are almost a movement amongst some popular writers who are selfpublished to say dont go to the publishers they rip you off. They dont really promote your books unless youre a really really big seller. And they keep most of the money. Dont those authors have a point . No. They dont. I really, you know ive worked in publishing a long time. I see what happens to a book when its acquired. First of all theyre proof read. They have a team of professional artists that come up with a wonderful package. They have a team of marketers who try to figure out you know, even for brooks we dont spend a lot of money on, we try to figure out how to get them to the public. Reporter but raaw is well aware that she is part of a shrinking industry. Even without the the backing of a bigtime publisher, a number of selfpublished authors are racking up huge sales. Does that worry you at all . No. As a matter of fact, editors and agents theyre looking at amazon best seller list, theyre looking at the New York Times best seller list and theyre looking for potential new authors too. Weve found a couple of them. Reporter but only a tiny portion of selfpublished books do make it big mostly through word of mouth or the blogosphere rather than mainstream reviews. I get a lot of people sending me selfpublished books. Its tough. Reporter Time Magazine book critics lev grossman, himself a published awe thofer authorize, acknowledged that he pays more attention if a book comes from a traditional publisher. When i am looking at hundreds of thousands of selfpublished books by people ive never heard of, i just dont know what to do with a lot of them. Reporter but he dismisses the idea that publishers always produce better books. I often look at traditionally published books and think how the hell did this get published . A lot of stuff gets published on both sides that probably shouldnt. Reporter still it seems that nothing trumps the will to publish. Even in print. For those who still want a product they can hold, theres the expresso machine. There it is. Reporter which turns out bound paperbacks in places like manhattans Mcnally Jackson bookstore. Coordinator beth seidel says printing prices start at just 19. Shes seen a big increase in selfpublishing. In the beginning, you know, it was maybe 50 a. 50 books a month. Now on average we print 1,000 books a month. Reporter the store even sells book it prints, a bill thrill for silver krygier whose romantic comedy was turned down by traditional publishers. My dream is just to see people sitting in the cafes sipping a cappuccino and reading my little funny book. Reporter and why not dream . Theres plenty of precedent. A long list of successful authors selfpublished even before the current boom. Of course, the author of the Christmas Box must have a great christmas tree. I love christmas. Reporter including rich evans. With 22 best sellers and 15 million books in print, he is is delighted that selfpublishing is easier for todays fledgling writers. Theres really powerful stories out there that need to be heard. The cream will still rise to the top. There will be things that will gain track shannon grow. Im all for it. Ill think its wonderful. I see huge changes. Reporter even bigtime publishers whose livelihood may be a bit threatened give the doityourself crowd a lot of respect. The fact that you have a channel for getting your book published and read, i think thats very good for authors. I applaud anyone who says im not giving up. Im going to find a way. Osgood coming up, on a roll. You have any usefull apps on that thing . Who do you think i am, quicken loans . At quicken loans our amazingly useful mortgage calculator app allows you to quickly calculate your mortgage payment based on todays incredibly low interest rates. Right from your iphone or android smartphone. One more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat . Campbells healthy request soup lets you hear it. In your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. Great taste. Mmm. [ male announcer ] sounds good. Its amazing what soup can do. Now a page from our sunday morning almanac. December 9 1884, 128 years ago today, an honored day in the annals of surefooted speed for that was the day richardson received a patent for an innovative kind of roler skate one whose wheels spun smoothly on shiny ball bearings. His fangled skates left older models in the dust and helped to propel skating to the first rank of pastimes. Its popularity in the early 20th century was the occasion for gags in the 1968 film funny girl. Are you sure you can roler skate . Can i roler skate . Osgood with Barbra Streisand as an out of control roler skating chorus girl. I thought you could skate. Didnt know i could. Osgood whether on the sidewalks or in big public rinks skating continued to be a popular sport. During tvs early days, roler derbies were a broadcast staple. Skate in the roler derby osgood beginning in the 1980s inline skates began to nudge out the traditional four wheel skate aleast among the daring young. While the perhaps not so daring older crowd was drawn to skating at the local rink to the accompaniment of live organists. As our bill geist discovered back in 2007 when he visited the rink in new jersey. I love the organ music. If they put a disk on or a tape on i dont like to skate. We go over and we say play this for us. Reporter whats your Favorite Song . The stripper. Osgood sadly that rink is is now closed but never fear. Dedicated skaters of every age and every level of proficiency always seem to find a place to strut their stuff. I got a brand new pair of roler skates you got a brand new key osgood behind the scenes of the hobbit with andy serkis. Just ahead. Im a conservative investor. I invest in what i know. I turned 65 last week. Im getting married. Planning a life. There are risks, sure. But, theres no reward without it. I want to be prepared for the long haul. I see a world bursting with opportunities. India, china, brazil ishares, smallcaps largecaps ishares. Industrials. Low cost. Every dollar counts. Ishares. Income. Dividends. Bonds. I like bonds. Ishares. Commodities. Diversification. Choices. My own ideas. Ishares. I want to use the same stuff the big guys use. Ishares. 9 out of 10 large, professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Introducing the ishares core etfs for the heart of your portfolio. Tax efficient and low cost Building Blocks to help you keep more of what you earn. Call your advisor. Visit ishares. Com. Ishares. Yeah, ishares. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Osgood how does a fleshandblood humor actor become a strange little creature on the silver screen. As Anthony Mason shows us now its magic. Reporter the face may not be familiar. But actor andy serkis has starred in some of this centurys biggest blockbusters. When you sit in a theater and you look up and see gollum, do you think thats me . Yeah absolutely. Oure a liar. Especially because gollums face is designed around mine. Cant you tell . You dont have any friends. Reporter in the lord of the rings trilogy serkis stars as the conflicted creature gollum. Reprising his role in the new film the hobbit serkis again uses the gutterral voice he discovered in his kitchen. I actually watched one of my cats cough up a fur ball. When a cat coughs up fur balls he goes making a sound like that. Which i began to use. So that became the voice of gollum. Reporter serkis was hired originally just to provide the voice for an animated gollum. But his physical performance on set was so convincing that director Peter Jackson went off script. We started to look at andy and thinking, is there a way that we can get what hes giving us actually in the film . Reporter so jackson and his team helped pioneer a new technology called motion capture. To build the animation from serkis performance. Andy is very brave. Hes very courageous. Hes not scared of performance capture. I remember the first day of putting on a motioncapture suit and seeing a very rudimentary grayshaded version of gollum when i was lifting up my right hand gollum was lifting up his right hand. It was like a magic mirror sort of looking at you thinking wow. Reporter this is your old neighborhood. It is. I went to school about two minutes up the road that way actually. Reporter serkis grew up in west london brought up by his mother a teacher while his father worked in baghdad. My dad was a doctor. He built a hospital out in iraq. Reporter he started acting in college. And he built a steady career in films like sex, drugs and rocknroll. And 13goingon30. Heres to early retirement. Reporter but lord of the rings changed everything. When you were finished with lord of the rings, you were expecting going back to regular acting. Yeah laughing right. Reporter then you came at him with king congress. Yeah, yeah. Reporter serkis played kong in jacksons next film. Andy couldnt go back into the boring old world of live action. Reporter and then caesar, the intelligent chimp who leads a revolution in rise of the planet of the apes. Serkis became so enamoured with the technology that hes opened his own studio, the imaginarium. There are 80 cameras in this room. Were shortly to go up to 100. Reporter the cameras positioned all around the stage send out infrared pulses that read the markers on the actors suit. These markers can drive a virtual bones. Reporter virtual bones. So its a very simple primitive skeleton. Reporter the actor performs within a computeranimated world. This is the Virtual World weve created. The sets are being built. Were seeing a reflection in the mirror. Reporter the studios first major production will be a film of George Orwell animal farm which the 48yearold serkis will direct. The irony of being the face of performancecapture acting is that your face isnt actually that well known. Which is fine by me. I like the anonimity that i have. Reporter its the performance that andy serkis would like to see get more respect. Do you think there will be an oscar category for you some day .