Zoe Saldaña is urging audiences to better appreciate the artistry and precision behind motion capture performances a technique central to James Cameron’s Avatar franchise.
In a new interview with Alicia Keys for Beyond
Noise, the actress revealed that Cameron is “considering a documentary
about the making of Avatar,” which she says would finally allow the cast
to “explain, in a detailed and meticulous way, why performance capture is the
most empowering form of acting.”
Saldaña, who has portrayed Neytiri in both Avatar
(2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), stressed that this kind of
work deserves greater acknowledgment. “It gives us the credit and ownership of
100 percent of what audiences see on screen,” she said.
She contrasted motion capture with traditional voice acting,
explaining that while animated films often require only a few recording
sessions, Avatar’s realism depends entirely on the cast’s physical
performances. “Avatar wouldn’t exist if Sigourney Weaver, Sam
Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself, and everyone else didn’t step
into that volume, wearing those dots on our faces,” she said.
Describing the process, Saldaña added, “We wear those
unitards covered in sensors and perform inside a motion capture stage or
‘volume’ surrounded by cameras that track every movement and feed that data
into the system that becomes Pandora.”
A longtime advocate for motion capture actors, Saldaña has
previously criticized the Academy Awards for overlooking such
performances in acting categories. While Avatar earned Oscars for
cinematography, visual effects, and art direction, its actors have never been
recognized for their contributions.
“It takes about seven years between Avatar films,”
she noted. “We train in archery, martial arts, scuba diving, and free diving even
learning new languages to bring these characters to life. With Jim’s
technology, we fully own our performances. It’s a beautiful partnership between
art and innovation.”
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