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

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/zoe-saldana-oscars-snubbing-avatar-acting-deflating-1236251631/

33 comments

  1. > “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 per cent 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?”

  2. The deal was that the big films got millions in advertising, thousands of screens, and the reward for that was making obscene amounts of money; the small films would get consideration for the awards.  I don’t like all these rich people saying that since they “won” a box office they should “win” an artistic prize too.

    Is it so bad that a dude like Ke Huy Quan wins an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once, a passion-project sleeper-hit?

  4. I have only seen the first Avatar.

    At the time I understood the stunning special effects work. But the story was Pocahontas with blue people.

    And the acting was nothing I’d dance to the Oscar over. It’s a fun flick. But not some Oscar nominating type stuff. Have the last two films been that good.

  5. You’re not overlooked. You’re just in a movie I couldn’t finish out of boredom.

  6. It’s been 15 years, it’s ok to leave the promo tour language behind. We’ve seen the movie.

  7. That movie was so over rated and doesn’t hold up

  8. I know reddit has a hate boner for Avatar but Saldana was genuinely great in that. I don’t recall the other nominees so to say she would have won an award is hard to say but she put in a stellar performance that could have definitely warranted an Oscar nomination

  9. Avatar was derivative and mediocre. It was only so popular because of the 3D effects. It should never have won awards.

  10. Performance capture should be considered for best actor/actress, but Zoe Saldana doesn’t deserve to be nominated for Avatar…

  11. Right?? I can’t believe the scene where two blue cat aliens have sex – with their ponytails- *didn’t* win an Oscar!!

  12. As much hate as Avatar gets… I’m glad those movies exist.. not completely original but nice seeing big budget movies by someone like James Cameron now an again.

  14. To be fair she was leagues ahead of all the other actors in both movies. Very moving performance.

  15. To me it just screamed “look at me, I’m acting! Look at me do the acting!”

    With the million dollars spent on graphics.

    The whole thing was over done. Too much over acting, too much graphics..not enough on story.

    I’m happy with FFXs ps2 graphics because the story is that good.

    Jurassic park has practical effects and the story is a fun ride. The whole thing has aged well.

  16. Avatar is literally a rip off of avatar the last air bender. Both movies are unnecessarily long and rely heavily on cgi and action. There is no authenticity in the franchise (like most franchises). There’s a reason LOTR won big at the Oscar’s and the hobbit only got a few.

  17. Guess she will have to cry herself to sleep on the mountain of money she’s being paid.

  20. What acting? Avatar is the most overrated commercial hit

  22. Even if the movie wasn’t mostly animated it also didn’t have any Oscar worthy performances.  I think it’s wild anyone would sign on for a movie like Avatar thinking they’re going to be front runners for acting awards in the first place.

  25. That’s a rather arrogant thing to say, isn’t it?

  26. She may have actual points, but I don’t remember anyone talking about the amazing performances in this movie. In fact, like previous avatar movies, it made a trillion dollars and no one remembers or talks about the movie.

  27. Well… that and many other film genre as well. It’s likely doubly bad since your performance is lost behind an alien face that can be difficult to relate to. Which… ironically given the rigs and settings they are in make it even more difficult to act convincingly.

    That said… it’s hard for me to look at Avatar and consider it for anything other than VFX.

  28. Maybe act better then. Sorry every aspect of those movies besides the visuals is mediocre at best

  29. Nothing stands out here but the FX. It can win technical oscars. Your green character is oscar worthy next to Avatar.

  30. You cant compare the work done by an actor in avatar to the work done by Adrian Brody in the Brutalist. The academy clearly and always have leaned towards what works like the Brutalist are and honestly they should, because without awards cycles those movies wouldn’t get made as often, but movies like avatar always will

  31. She can cry about it to the bank and she’ll get 4 or 5 more tries with the next Avatar movies that are in the works.

  32. Well, maybe that is because the films are rehashed, overlong garbage.

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