It would be difficult to find an actress working today who could be considered to have more quantifiable success than Zoe Saldaña. After starring in “Star Trek,” Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise and, perhaps most importantly, James Cameron’s “Avatar” films, she established herself as both a powerful and as a person consistently associated with financial success on a global level. highest level. In short? She is an actress who delivers the goods both on screen and at the box office. But for Saldaña, there remains a frustration with his work in the science fiction genre, and particularly in “Avatar.”

In a recent profile article for The IndependentSaldaña spoke about her work in the Highly acclaimed ‘Emilia Pérez’ coming to Netflix in November. Saldaña is in the awards season conversation for her work in the film, and while that’s certainly a good thing, the actress also reflected a bit on being overlooked for her performance in “Avatar” from 2009 and its 2022 follow-up, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” In his mind, the industry is clinging to old ideas by not recognizing motion capture performance over more traditional on-camera performance. Here’s what she had to say about it:

“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to push for change. And I understand that, so I’m not bitter about it, but it’s pretty deflating to dedicate 120% to something. I mean, not winning is good, not being nominated is good, but when you’re overlooked and then downplayed and completely ignored…”

‘Avatar’ became the highest-grossing film of all time (twice)with over $2.9 billion to his credit to date. Only “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.79 billion) comes remotely close to that total. It was also nominated for numerous Academy Awards in its time, including Best Picture, but mostly in the technical categories. The actors were excluded.

There have been some motion capture controversies in the industry for around twenty years now. Andy Serkis completely changed the game with his performance as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings”. Serkis would later take things to another level with his performance as Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” films, and both performances failed to get Oscar nominations, but both films won awards. prizes for their visual effects.

Does it take very talented technicians to bring these performances to full life? Yes. But there’s a gigantic difference between a lifeless CGI creation and what Saldaña and the others did in “Avatar” or other blockbusters that rely on motion-capture performances. “I know the difference between that and what we did,” Saldaña added in the interview.

For my money, Saldaña and other actors did not get their due for such performances. I would say she hasn’t gotten the credit she deserves either. her role as Gamora in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, i.e.. Fortunately, the industry is changing in some ways. Angela Bassett got the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” so at least comic book movies aren’t overlooked when warranted. Saldaña, further, seems to have made peace with the lack of critical appreciation of his work as Neytiri:

“At some point you have to ask yourself: why do I do what I do? Is it so that others can give me approval? Or is it because I don’t want to do anything else ?”

Who knows? Maybe by the time “Avatar: Fire and Ash” hits theaters next yearattitudes will change a little. For now, Saldaña will have to settle for appearing in the three highest-grossing films of all time, and a few of the top 20.