Believe it or not, Zoe Saldaña has starred in the top three highest grossing films of all time. One of them, she’s covered in green paint (“Avengers: Endgame”), and the other two she’s completely unrecognizable (the two ‘Avatar’ films). And it’s those two ‘Avatar’ movies where she feels a little deflated because of the lack of recognition she’s received.
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Speaking to The Independent, Zoe Saldaña talked about the issue surrounding actors and motion-captured performances. You see, in the two ‘Avatar’ films, Saldaña is on set and acting, but she’s doing it all with motion-capture technology. And in the industry, there’s been a lack of recognition for actors who do mo-cap performances. This is something that has left a sour taste in Saldaña’s mouth.
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“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to bring forward change,” Saldaña said about motion-capture recognition. “And I understand that, so I’m not bitter about it, but it is quite deflating when you give 120 percent of yourself into something. I mean, not winning is OK, not being nominated is OK, but when you’re overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded…”
There seems to be an issue with motion-capture and critical reception. A lot of folks think that the magic is done by the technicians who animate over the performance. That has led to performances by Andy Serkis in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’ films to not get any sort of awards recognition.
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In regards to the argument that technicians are the ones deserving the praise, Saldaña said, “I know the difference between that and what we did.”
It’s unclear if we’ll ever see a day when mo-capped performances earn awards consideration. As the technology improves, perhaps we’ll see it happen. As of now, however, it doesn’t appear that it’ll happen. Despite what Saldaña hopes.