Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
| Zoe Saldana Says Avatar Film Tech Gave the Actors “Freedom” | October 6th, 2009 |
While actress Zoe Saldana “doesn’t appear photographically” in Avatar, according to director James Cameron the sophisticated CGI technology developed for the movie allowed Saldana’s performance to shine through her digital character, giving it “heart and soul.” While many actors have complained publicly about the difficulties of working against a green screen on other heavily CGI pictures, Saldana told CanMag that the the technology behind Avatar actually helped her acting experience.
After you get used to it, it is the most amazing thing because you’re not working in a movie where you have to pause yourself and they have to light again and you have to start all over again. We would do a scene from the beginning to the end every time. As an actor, you can only be so lucky to do that.
We had this freedom. When you take away a set, when you take away the hair and the makeup, you just leave the actors working with a director and you have all day. You have all day to talk and Jim is that kind of filmmaker, director that he will stop. He will sit down with you and if it takes a three hour discussion in terms of how big a monster is this beast that we’re talking about, in order for me to adjust my levels of fear or aggressiveness, it was about going into the computers and getting all these pictures and talking extensively to us so by the time we got back on the Volume, which is what we called the set, we knew what was in our minds. It was being a child again. It was being a child again and not limiting your imagination.
Avatar also stars Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, and Giovanni Ribisi.
From Reelz Channel
| Zoe Saldana on Avatar | October 2nd, 2009 |
You might not recognize Zoe Saldana in Avatar. She plays a Na’Vi, one of those big blue aliens from the planet Pandora. The affect is achieved through performance capture and all the technology director James Cameron invented to create his film.
“In the beginning, I think it was a lack of knowledge, a lack of awareness of how the technology worked,” Saldana said. “Then we worked on it for two years. We trained, we had extensive rehearsals with Jim so it takes a little time for you to get used to it. After you get used to it, it is the most amazing thing because you’re not working in a movie where you have to pause yourself and they have to light again and you have to start all over again. We would do a scene from the beginning to the end every time. As an actor, you can only be so lucky to do that.”
I would have thought that doing longer takes left more room for mistakes. I’d be wrong, because actors prefer to do it all at once. “We had this freedom. When you take away a set, when you take away the hair and the makeup, you just leave the actors working with a director and you have all day. You have all day to talk and Jim is that kind of filmmaker, director that he will stop. He will sit down with you and if it takes a three hour discussion in terms of how big a monster is this beast that we’re talking about, in order for me to adjust my levels of fear or aggressiveness, it was about going into the computers and getting all these pictures and talking extensively to us so by the time we got back on the Volume, which is what we called the set, we knew what was in our minds. It was being a child again. It was being a child again and not limiting your imagination.”
| Zoe Saldana Talks ‘Star Trek’ Sequel & ‘Avatar’ | September 14th, 2009 |
The lovely Zoe Saldana is quickly becoming a name to contend with after managing to land plum parts in not one, but two of the biggest sci-fi films of the decade: Star Trek and Avatar. One is a bonafide hit, the other remains shrouded in a lot of mystery, but it’s a mark of Saldana’s star power that she’s making a name outside of their huge hype. Plus, she’s becoming an action heroine in her own right, and just might be our generation’s Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton.
We had the chance to catch up with Saldana this week, and she was game to talk about both projects. Of course with the Star Trek sequel still in a misty writing stage, she didn’t have any big secrets to spill, but she shared the opinion of a lot of female Trek fans in hoping Uhura gets to do a little butt-kicking later on. “In Star Trek, I had so much fun, but the boys got all the action! J.J. [Abrams] promised me that I’m going to — [that] in the sequel, she will have at least one little fight. I mean, just [let me] kick a guy in the groin or something!” Laughing, she revealed that there was an enormous ongoing e-mail list among the cast, Abrams, and the Trek producers where they regularly chat and joke back and forth. From the sound of it, that’s also where the groin-kicking requests are made.
| Uhura kicks butt! | September 14th, 2009 |
We just got a chance to chat with Zoe Saldana on a set visit (though we can’t tell you what that is just yet…I promise to give you all a full report after they promise not to hurt my family if I tell) where she gave us the scoop on getting to kick some ass in the STAR TREK sequel and being a hot chick/action star.
“I’m in my phase of action film exploitation,” she told us. “I mean, after AVATAR for two years, and being harnessed and jumping off wires and everything. I wanted to keep exploring that. And STAR TREK…I had so much fun, but the boys had all the action. J.J. (Abrams) promised me that in the sequel, she will have at least one little fight…I mean, let me just kick a guy in the groin or something.” Volunteers?
Saldana was asked if she’d been emailing back and forth with the STAR TREK cast, she said, “Fuck, yeah! Oh my god, yes! If you guys could see…we have each other on a massive email group. All the actors and the producers and J.J. And just to read the back and forth with Karl Urban and Simon Pegg and Chris Pine and John Cho…I’ve been having tons of fun. The last two years have been fun because I’ve been working with amazing directors and amazing actors…”
She’s loving the whole action star thing. “I’m a sucker for vulnerable parts, but I’m in my phase. And I really enjoy it. For an actor, once they catch that bug…If I’m not jumping off a building man, I’m not doing it!” she said in a tough guy voice. (Yes, I meant, “guy”. She channeled Stallone for a sec.] “And I’m there.” She showed us a giant bruise to prove it.
From JoBlo
| Zoë Saldana shares opinion on the next Wonder Woman | August 6th, 2009 |
Zoë Saldana, who stars in this summer’s ‘Star Trek’ and plays Neytiri in the highly-anticipated sci-fi film ‘Avatar,’ has some opinions on who should play iconic superhero Wonder Woman.
Saldana recently told an audience at Comic-Con International she thinks filmmakers should write Wonder Woman as a ‘Matrix’-style heroine and find someone with a ‘hot body’ for the role.
As for tough female roles in Hollywood, Saldana says actresses have to spend too much time discussing wardrobe for action scenes.
‘We fight against a room full of men over whether we should wear pants (in an action sequence) when they think I can do it in a skirt and Gucci boots,’ she told reporters.
‘Avatar,’ scheduled for a Dec. 18 release, also stars Michelle Rodriguez. 20th Century Fox, the film’s studio, plans ‘Avatar Day’ for Aug. 21, when extended footage from the film will be shown in select theaters
From My San Antonio
The Losers
Death at a Funeral
Takers
Avatar
Star Trek
The Skeptic
