Gservo
9th January 2003, 02:13 PM
The Age asks the million dollar question these days. Can a digital actor win an Academy Award for acting?
Serkis (who looks a bit like Rowan Atkinson and previously had bit parts in movies called The Escapist, Shiner and Pandaemonium) explains why he is more than a voice: "The stuff I'm doing on set is demonstrating to the animators. Obviously the animators will be able to create a lot of subtext by a look or a blink that the character does, that I won't be so much a part of because that's their domain. But I would try to indicate to them how I see the character being played." The question of what constitutes an acting performance was raised again this week with the release of a list of The Biggest Box-Office Stars of All Time. An American popular culture website called The Numbers cross-indexed performers' names with ticket sales, and came up with a top 100 that begins, not surprisingly, with Harrison Ford.
Through three original episodes of Star Wars, three Indiana Jones, and such hits as Air Force One, Patriot Games and The Fugitive, Ford pulled more than $US3 billion ($A5.23 billion) across cinema counters. (If such a list were compiled from Australian box office takings, Ford would top that too.)
More unusual is Samuel L. Jackson at No. 2. He reached that spot not because of his powerful performance in Pulp Fiction (which did not do particularly well at the box office) but for smaller roles in Die Hard With a Vengeance, Jurassic Park and the two most recent Star Wars episodes.
A little further down the list, after the likes of Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson, we come to some unfamiliar names: Jim Cummings at 10, Frank Oz at 12, Clint Howard at 13 and Kenny Baker at 14. They are apparently so hot that they have sold more tickets than Julia Roberts, the first woman on the list. But who are they?
Jim Cummings is the Disney organisation's favourite voiceover man for cartoons, specialising in Winnie the Pooh and Lion King characters. You heard him most recently as Captain of Guards in Shrek. He has never been in a live action movie.
Frank Oz is a puppeteer and director who did the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars series and the voice of Miss Piggy in the Muppets series.
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Serkis (who looks a bit like Rowan Atkinson and previously had bit parts in movies called The Escapist, Shiner and Pandaemonium) explains why he is more than a voice: "The stuff I'm doing on set is demonstrating to the animators. Obviously the animators will be able to create a lot of subtext by a look or a blink that the character does, that I won't be so much a part of because that's their domain. But I would try to indicate to them how I see the character being played." The question of what constitutes an acting performance was raised again this week with the release of a list of The Biggest Box-Office Stars of All Time. An American popular culture website called The Numbers cross-indexed performers' names with ticket sales, and came up with a top 100 that begins, not surprisingly, with Harrison Ford.
Through three original episodes of Star Wars, three Indiana Jones, and such hits as Air Force One, Patriot Games and The Fugitive, Ford pulled more than $US3 billion ($A5.23 billion) across cinema counters. (If such a list were compiled from Australian box office takings, Ford would top that too.)
More unusual is Samuel L. Jackson at No. 2. He reached that spot not because of his powerful performance in Pulp Fiction (which did not do particularly well at the box office) but for smaller roles in Die Hard With a Vengeance, Jurassic Park and the two most recent Star Wars episodes.
A little further down the list, after the likes of Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson, we come to some unfamiliar names: Jim Cummings at 10, Frank Oz at 12, Clint Howard at 13 and Kenny Baker at 14. They are apparently so hot that they have sold more tickets than Julia Roberts, the first woman on the list. But who are they?
Jim Cummings is the Disney organisation's favourite voiceover man for cartoons, specialising in Winnie the Pooh and Lion King characters. You heard him most recently as Captain of Guards in Shrek. He has never been in a live action movie.
Frank Oz is a puppeteer and director who did the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars series and the voice of Miss Piggy in the Muppets series.
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