Good on McKellen, < shrug > on Serkis. Didn’t completely love his Gollum and, as I’ve said, he (or the writers) completely botched what the name “gollum” is about.
Golem and Gollum are not at all the same word, and have nothing to do with each other, if that’s what you mean. Otherwise, I don’t know what you’re getting at. It’s been suggested that Tolkien borrowed from Old Norse language, where the first syllable of his name refers to precious jewelry (like the One Ring would be), and Tolkien wrote that it was a name given to him because of the awful way he constantly swallowed. Gollum was written to be a disgusting wormy character, and he was depicted that way in the movies.
Can you briefly explain what bothered you? I don’t claim to have any great insight, but my husband thought it was pretty good, so I’d appreciate your comments.