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As the Avatar franchise continues to grow, Zoe Saldaña shared that creator James Cameron is "considering a documentary about the making" of the movies, which the Oscar-winning actress is keen to pursue because it would shed light on why performance capture is the "most empowering form of acting."
Why James Cameron Should Film An Avatar Documentary, According to Zoe Saldaña
Motion capture movies have often raised eyebrows, which explains why Saldaña insists on defending their performances over the years in Avatar. With a documentary of how things are done beyond the screen, Saldaña believes it would "give us the credit, the ability to own 100 percent of our performance on screen."
In an interview with Beyond Noise, Saldaña compared how performance capture means taking more than "a few sessions" as they do with animation studios.
"You go into a studio, however you're dressed, and you 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 get up and put those dots on our faces," Saldaña said.
She continued to detail the grueling process it takes them to truly get into character and watch the film unravel, "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,"
"It takes an average of seven years between [each Avatar film]," Saldaña added that in those seven years, they had to get a grasp of archery, martial arts, free diving, and scuba diving, including the language built in Pandora, "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."
How Important is the Avatar Franchise to Zoe Saldaña?
It's not the first time Saldaña has passionately spoken about the Avatar franchise. In fact, she previously called out the Oscars for snubbing motion capture performances, including Andy Serkis' acclaimed motion capture work as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes.
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"Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it's really hard to bring forward change," Saldaña told The Independent, "And I understand that, so I'm not bitter about it, but it is quite deflating when you give 120% of yourself into something. I mean, not winning is okay, not being nominated is okay, but when you're overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded..."
James Cameron himself defended the passion Saldaña held, that she is "ferocious" and a "freaking lioness" when it came to working hard to make the vision come true. So, there's no question as to why Avatar matters greatly to her.
Meanwhile, Avatar: Fire and Ash premieres on the big screens on December 19. Stay tuned.
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