Zoe Saldana: ‘Apes’ is picking up the ‘Avatar’ mantle
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While on the promotional circuit for ‘Avatar’ a little more than a year ago, actress Zoe Saldana devoted a healthy amount of time to explaining how the performance-capture technology in the film worked.
The James Cameron-directed movie, of course, broke new ground with the technology, in which an actor’s performance is recorded and later layered with computer imagery. This weekend, audiences embraced ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,’ a new film that employs a smilar method with the help of the same company, Weta Digital. Saldana said she’s heartened by how quickly public acceptance has taken hold.
‘Part of growing and being on this earth is evolving -- and not only do we evolve as people by trying to be better people, but we also want to evolve our technology and the way we view art and interpret films,’ the actress said from the red carpet of the Teen Choice Awards, which she attended Sunday night to promote her upcoming film, ‘Colombiana.’ (You can watch a video of the interview below.)
‘Motion capture definitely is like this new wave of making films that still keeps that awe-ness of filmmaking without compromising that with our mortality. And you still get an amazing performance and everything.’
‘Apes’ actor Andy Serkis’ performance as a chimp is already sparking award buzz, and Saldana said she’s hopeful that categories will become ‘more open to the technological aspects, the same way you would want to see more comedies and more horror movies with awards.’
‘Colombiana’ -- an action thriller written by Luc Besson that is out later this month -- doesn’t involve performance-capture technology. But Saldana said it blazes other paths.
‘I like the fact that it’s a typical story about revenge, but told through the eyes of a woman without compromising the level of violence that a theme like this would entail.’
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--Amy Kaufman