Most of the actors that do play apes have told me that it's been one of the most profound things they've done, because you have to be so honest with yourself.
Terry Notary
It's funny, because you want to make it different, but when I start building a character I do the same thing with each of them, which is start with a blank canvas. It's like painting a picture.
The amazing thing about motion capture is everything translates. Your slightest emotions translate through the suit and into the character.
I can play under the radar and still be a normal person.
And then I got to go to Singapore and play with some orangutans, and the mom was letting me hold the baby. They just look at you with these big eyes, so sweet and open. Like the soul is right there - it almost scares you, you know?
Chimps are much, much more in their front body. The gorillas seem to be much more in their back body, looking out from the inside.
And then you have the orangutans. There's a softness, and kindness, and there's almost this glint of humor that lies behind everything that they do. There's this old-soul sort of wisdom. And with that comes this cool, unhurried, decisive, linear way of moving through space.
Once you cross that social conditioning threshold that holds us back, we all become animals. Instantly.
You have to feel fear; it's nature's beautiful fire. It widens your peripheral vision, and makes you more aware. That's one of the biggest challenges for me as an actor: to not let the fear go into your mind and start putting up stop signs and check posts in there.
When I work with actors, we try to tune the instrument so that you can feel things and allow those emotions to wash through you. You allow the fear to happen, and then you react and you listen without trying to get too absorbed into the actual end mark that you're supposed to hit.
