Archive for the ‘Avatar’ Category
| “Avatar” 10-minute Behind the Scenes Clip | November 28th, 2009 |
James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ releases new 10 minute behind the scenes clip. 20th Century Fox is at it again with their promotion of their big movie, James Cameron’s “Avatar.” They’ve released a new 10 minute “behind the scenes” clip (below). It shows how the did all the special effects,more unseen movie footage,and interviews with some of the castmembers.
This feature starts out, showing another clip from “Avatar.” Then cuts to an interview with James Cameron,talking about how the movie ended up getting made. It then, shows more new,unseen footage, while giving interviews to various castmembers.
Sam Worthington who plays Jake Sully explains his role in the film. Then other castmembers all chime in with their take on the movie. They include : Matt Gerald, Sigourney Weaver,and Zoe Saldana.
They showed that the actors actually had to do the action performances, as well as the voice performances. They weren’t just made up by animators. James Cameron revealed how the computer recorded all their actions,so they could then translate it into a digital character.
| Zoe Saldana: I’m No Sex Tool | November 26th, 2009 |
Star Trek star Zoe Saldana was inspired by Sigourney Weaver and Angelina Jolie to become the reigning queen of sci-fi movies but don’t call her a sex symbol!
“I’ve always gravitated toward the Sigourney Weavers, the Linda Hamiltons, the Angelina Jolies,” the New York-born actress tells Details magazine.
“I just love strong women that are in tune with their bodies — that don’t just use their bodies as sex tools. I’m very dominant — feisty. I’m not a man-hater, just a very proud woman.”
| James Cameron Created a New Language for “Avatar” | November 26th, 2009 |
Four years before “Avatar” was scheduled to be released, director James Cameron contacted USC professor Paul Frommer, who is a linguistics specialist, to create an entirely new language that will be spoken by the Na’vi aliens in the film.
“The constraint, of course, is that the language I created had to be spoken by humans,” Frommer told LA Times. “I could have let my imagination run wild and come up with all sorts of weird sounds, but I was limited by what a human actor could actually do.”
But even though the language was created with humans in mind, “Avatar” actors still struggled to get the words out correctly. “It was so hard and I was really concerned about it,” said Zoe Saldana. “I didn’t think I could get through it. I’m not good with languages. All the actors, we worked together. It was the only way.”
Between the movie and the game, Frommer has a bit more than 1,000 words in the Na’vi language, as well as all the rules and structure of the language itself. And in case there will be a sequel or a prequel to “Avatar,” Frommer is continuing to build on the language.
From Worst Previews
| ‘Avatar’ star Zoe Saldana says the movie will match the hype: ‘This is big’ | November 24th, 2009 |
“AVATAR” COUNTDOWN: 26 DAYS
Our daily coverage leading up to the release of “Avatar” continues today with a chat with Zoe Saldaña, who may be the sci-fi actress of the year with her spirited turn as Uhura in “Star Trek” and now her “Avatar” performance. She talks about her role, her fellow cast members and also boldly declares that, with “Avatar,” James Cameron has gone where 3D and motion-capture rival Robert Zemeckis has never gone before.
Zoe4_kt8ptync GB: Some of your costars have said their work on “Avatar” gave them the feeling they were part of Hollywood history because of all the film’s innovations and ambitions.
ZS: Well it was amazing, yes, but for me I’d have to say I’m just excited that I got to work with an amazing director and a great cast and crew.
GB: You had to deal with learning a language that was invented for the film. Was that hard?
ZS: I was really concerned about it. I’m bad with languages, and I was worried about it. Jim created the words and then we worked with a linguist who helped us, and he figured out the language. One of the things that was even harder was figuring out how to speak English with a Na’vi accent, trying to decide what that sounds like. The actors are from all over and have different accents. My family background is from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, CCH Pounder is the West Indies, Laz Alonso is Cuban, all of us with our own accents. We had to find a way to make this new accent, and all of us sat down and tried to meet in the middle.
GB: It’s a big film in every way, but how would describe it from your personal point of view?
ZS: It’s a beautiful love story. It’s a story of a young man’s self-discovery and growth. He belongs to two worlds and needs to figure that out.
| Zoe in “Details” Magazine | November 24th, 2009 |
Zoe is featured in the December 2009 issue of “Details” magazine! The magazine will hit newsstands next week! You can read the article below and check out photos from the shoot in our gallery by clicking on the thumbnail to the left of this post…
Zoë Saldana’s first words are a health warning. “You shouldn’t use that,” she says, nodding at the Splenda. “Use brown sugar.” The lithe 31-year-old actress is sitting in Hugo’s, an organic café in West Hollywood, wearing a fitted gray sweater dress over black leggings, nursing a cup of pomegranate white tea (unsweetened, naturally), and musing about the dangers of artificial sweeteners. You might not expect this sort of talk from an outer-borough New York girl, raised in Queens by way of the Dominican Republic. But Saldana has mined a strange blend of erudite grace (she’s a classically trained dancer) and raw sensuality to become the reigning queen of sci-fi blockbusters—last summer as Lieutenant Uhura in J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek and now in this month’s hotly anticipated Avatar.
“I’ve become a little action whore,” Saldana says. Emphasis on action, not the other thing. “I’ve always gravitated toward the Sigourney Weavers, the fucking Linda Hamiltons, the Angelina Jolies. I just love strong women that are in tune with their bodies—that don’t just use their bodies as sex tools. I’m very dominant—feisty. I’m not a man-hater, just a very proud woman.”
In fact, Saldana has yet another action movie in the works; she’s just back from Puerto Rico, where she’s been shooting an adaptation of The Losers, a wham-bam graphic novel. She can’t seem to help moving her hands and upper body—fluidly, expressively—as she speaks. There’s little doubt her physical abilities helped her snag a starring role in Avatar, which is being directed by James Cameron, creator of the Terminator franchise and Titanic. It’s taken more than $200 million and 15 years for Cameron to make this CGI fantasy film—he had to wait for the 3-D technology required to produce his vision to be invented—which suggests the decision to cast Saldana opposite Sam Worthington wasn’t made lightly.
“I’m such a physical person, action-film work came natural,” Saldana says. “Even at 5 years old, I was watching Sarah Connor. If you fucking switched the channel to The Last Unicorn, I would’ve been like, ‘Ah, Jesus—just find your way home, you fucking unicorn!’”
The Losers
Death at a Funeral
Takers
Avatar
Star Trek
The Skeptic
