Zoe Saldaña said in an interview with Beyond Noise that director James Cameron is “considering a documentary about the making of” Avatar, something the Oscar-winning actor is eager to do because it would “finally give him a chance to explain in detail why performance capture is the most empowering form of acting.”
“It gives us credibility and gives us the ability to own 100 percent of our performance on screen,” Saldaña says. Saldaña has long been a champion of motion-capture acting and has been outspoken about the need for awards bodies like the Oscars to consider it. “With animation, you might go into the studio for[a few]sessions, but that’s as much as we need you for the whole movie. You go into the studio wearing whatever clothes you’re wearing and lend your voice, right? Performance capture means that ‘Avatar’ wouldn’t exist if Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself, and the entire cast didn’t stand up and put dots on our faces.”
“We put on little unitards with lots of dots on them and step into what we call a volume, or set, set up in the ceiling. All the cameras are in measured positions,” she added. “They’re all referring to this space that finds us and feeds that information into a system called Pandora.”
Saldaña has played Neytiri in the Avatar movies, including 2009’s Avatar, 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, and the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ashes. Cameron plans to make two more Avatar movies.
“(Each Avatar movie) takes an average of seven years to make,” Saldaña said. “From archery, martial arts, freediving and scuba diving where you can hold your breath underwater for more than five minutes, to a language that[James]came up with from the sky, to physical training with former gymnasts, circus performers and acrobats to learn how to walk like extraterrestrials…this is all of us, an amazing group of stunt actors who make our characters feel bionic. God bless them.” The technology Jim creates gives artists complete ownership. ”
In an interview with The Independent last year, Saldaña criticized the Oscars for continuing to downplay motion-capture performances. Motion-capture acting has yet to enter the Oscar race, whether it’s the actors in Avatar or the acclaimed motion-capture work of Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes.
“Old habits die hard, and it’s really hard to push for change when you have old facilities,” Saldaña said on the subject. “I understand that and I don’t begrudge it, but when you give 120% of yourself to something, it’s very depressing. I mean, not winning is fine, not getting nominated is fine, but when you’re ignored and then you’re disrespected and then you’re completely ignored…”
Cameron told Variety last year as part of Saldaña’s cover story that it was overdue for her work as Neytiri in the Avatar series to be recognized at the Oscars.
“I’ve worked with many Academy Award-winning actors, but Zoe’s work has never been better,” the director said. “But in my movie, she plays a ‘CG character,’ so that makes no sense in a way. To me, it makes no sense at all. She can go from imposing to completely feral in two nanoseconds. This woman is ferocious. She’s one hell of a lioness.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released in theaters on December 19th by Disney and 20th Century Studios.
