LOS ANGELES, Dec 18: Zoe Saldaña recently shared her thoughts with The Independent on how the Oscars and other awards bodies struggle to recognize her performances in the Avatar franchise, particularly due to the motion capture technology used to bring her character, Neytiri, to life. While the character appears as a tall blue alien, all of Neytiri’s movements and facial expressions are directly derived from Saldaña's own actions.

Despite receiving praise for her work in the Avatar films, Saldaña noted that performances done through motion capture have long been overlooked by the Oscars. This includes the work of actors like Andy Serkis, who has been lauded for his portrayal of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes.

“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to bring forward change,” Saldaña explained. “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 ok, not being nominated is ok, but when you’re overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded…”

Saldaña also addressed critics who claim that her acting in the Avatar films is more the work of technicians than her own performance. She responded, saying, “I know the difference between that and what we did. At some point you have to ask yourself: why is it that I do what I do? Is it so others can give me approval? Or is it because I don’t want to do anything else?”

James Cameron, the director of the Avatar franchise, previously told Variety that the Oscars are overdue in recognizing Saldaña’s work as Neytiri. He said, “I’ve worked with Academy Award-winning actors, and there’s nothing that Zoe’s doing that’s of a caliber less than that. But because in my film she’s playing a ‘CG character,’ it kind of doesn’t count in some way, which makes no sense to me whatsoever. She can go from regal to, in two nanoseconds, utterly feral. The woman is ferocious. She is a freaking lioness.”

Andy Serkis, who has been a vocal advocate for the recognition of motion capture performances, also expressed hope that the Oscars will eventually acknowledge these types of acting. “They’ve written emails to the acting branch saying we have to now acknowledge performance in the broadest sense,” Serkis told ScreenCrush. “And they’re asking the question: What is the epitome or the essence of a great performance? It doesn’t just have to mean seeing an actor’s face on screen. It can be manifested using performance-capture. So they’re absolutely on top of it. They see it as important as other areas of diversity, so there isn’t prejudice against a particular type of acting.”

Serkis added, “So I think we’ll see in the future, hopefully, people like Doug Jones in The Shape of Water. They’re widening the remit. Otherwise, these performances get overlooked.”