The decades-long labor of love James Cameron and his Avatar family have put into building out the world of Pandora is a feat his Avatar: The Way of Water leading lady thinks should be chronicled deeply as a testament to the art of performance capture.
In an interview with musician Alicia Keys for By Design, who notes herself as an Avatar fan, Zoe Saldaña revealed that in time that’s something the legendary director may get to. You know, after whatever follows Avatar: Fire and Ash. Saldaña told Keys, “I’m excited that James Cameron is considering a documentary about the making of Avatar—finally giving us the chance to explain, in a meticulous way, why performance capture is the most empowering form of acting. It gives us the credit, the ability to own 100 percent of our performance on screen. With animation, you might go into the studio for [a few] sessions; that’s as much as they’ll need you for the whole movie. You go into a studio, however you’re dressed, and you lend your voice, right?”
She continued describing the immense work that goes into an underrecognized art form: “Performance capture means that Avatar wouldn’t exist if Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself, and the entire cast didn’t get up and put those dots on our faces. We put on that little unitard with all those dots on it, and step into a volume—that’s what we call the set—that’s rigged on the ceiling, with all these cameras in measured positions. They’re all pointing into this space that finds us, and feeds that information into the system that is Pandora.”
Elaborating on the nearly decade-long process in between films, where it’s clear, like stunt work (which is finally getting an Oscar category in 2028), performance capture needs to be given its credit, according to the actress.
“It takes an average of seven years between [each Avatar film]. From the archery, the martial arts, the free diving, the scuba diving—so that you can hold your breath underwater for longer than five minutes—to the language [Cameron] conceived out of thin air, to physically training with former gymnasts, circus performers, and acrobats so you can learn how to walk like an extraterrestrial human species…”
Emphasizing the scope of work that Cameron orchestrates on a massive scale with his Avatar ensemble, Saldaña shared, “That’s all us, and a group of incredible stunt actors that make our characters feel bionic. God bless them. With the technology that Jim creates, he gives the artist the power of complete ownership. It’s beautiful. I told him, ‘I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Terminator, Aliens, Ellen Ripley, The Abyss.’ At 10 or 11 years old, I would watch [the behind-the-scenes] over and over and over again. I liked the sacrifice that goes into putting something together. It’s art.”
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