Zoe Saldaña Says Oscars Rejecting ‘Avatar’ Acting Is ‘Quite Deflating’: ‘You’re Overlooked and Then Minimized and Completely Disregarded’

Zoe Saldaña recently spoke to The Independent about how the Oscars and other awards bodies struggle to look past all the digital wizardry that goes into her “Avatar” performances. Saldaña plays Neytiri via motion capture in the James Cameron-directed franchise. While the character is a tall blue alien on screen, all of her body movements and facial expressions come directly from Saldaña.

While the actor has earned acclaim for her work in the “Avatar” films, the Oscars have long ignored performances done in motion capture, such as those from Andy Serkis, who has been lauded for his acting as Gollum in “The Lord of Rings” and Caesar in “Planet of the Apes.”

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“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to bring forward change,” Saldaña said on the topic. “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 challenges people who claim her acting in the “Avatar” films is the work of technicians and not her as a performer 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 told Variety as part of a Saldaña cover story earlier this year that the Oscars are overdue to recognize her work as Neytiri in the “Avatar” franchise.

“I’ve worked with Academy Award-winning actors, and there’s nothing that Zoe’s doing that’s of a caliber less than that,” the director said. “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.”

Serkis has previously said he is hopeful the Oscars will come around one day to recognizing different types of acting, be it through motion capture or voice performances.

“They’ve written emails to the acting branch saying we have to now acknowledge performance in the broadest sense,” he 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.”

Head over to The Independent’s website to read Saldaña’s latest profile in its entirety.