This Behind-the-Scenes Look at ‘Avatar 2’ Proves Acting Is Still Central to the Movie (Video)
thewrap.comThe latest behind-the-scenes look at “Avatar: The Way of Water” offers a glimpse at the actors acting their hearts out within motion-capture performances.
The 249-second clip, released on 20th Century Studios’ YouTube channel, offers explicit evidence, if any such thing is still needed, that performance capture performances are still about actors honing their skills and the technology supplementing their work. “What we’re interested in,” notes writer/director James Cameron, “is the totality of the performance.
The actor creates the emotion, the actor creates the moment.”We then see a slew of split-screen sequences where we see the actor giving the in-film performance while covered in motion-capture gear (including the facial dots which serve as guides for computer rendering and related animation) side-by-side with the finished sequence in the film.
As Sam Worthington states at the 0:33 second mark, “Everything that Jake Sully as a Na’vi has done, Sam has done.”Beyond just providing an educational and entertaining behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of the global blockbuster, the featurette serves to show off that the moments of physical strain and high emotion are rooted in old-school acting.
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