Ever since Avatar, and indeed as far back as Lord of the Rings and King Kong, Hollywood has been hyping motion capture as a revolutionary technique which is set to transform fantasy film-making. No longer must we rely on animators to vivify computer-generated characters, the Gollums and the Na'avi of the 21st century cineverse, while the days of actors wearing heavy make up or prosthetics to portray aliens or talking animals seem to be (thankfully) behind us.
This past year alone saw the release of Tintin and Rise of the Planet of Apes, two of 2011's most fanboy-friendly films, neither of which could have existed without mo-cap. Tintin may yet take home the Oscar for best animated film at next month's Academy awards, a result which would surely see the gong rebranded with a more appropriate title. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox have been mounting a high-profile "for your consideration" campaign for Andy Serkis to pick up a best supporting actor nomination for his mo-cap turn as Caesar, the intelligent simian protagonist of Rise.
So far, despite a fair amount of Rodney Dangerfieldesque protesting from Serkis himself, there has been little sign that the kind of critics who decide the major awards season prizes are taking much notice. Serkis has so far picked up only a solitary nomination – from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. I said last month in this column that it might be too soon to expect mo-cap performances to win mainstream acting prizes - especially for a mostly mute turn - because the wider public does not yet fully understand exactly how the technology works. Who's to say how much of Serkis's performance really made it on to the big screen, and how much was "interpreted" by an animator in post-production?
Well now, finally, we can see for ourselves, and I think I may well have called it wrong. Fox has released a video of Serkis's performance in a key scene in Rise, featuring original footage at mo-cap stage alongside the final scene. In my opinion, it's revelatory. While I'm still not entirely sure that this is one of the finest acting performances of the year, the footage pulls Serkis's achievement into a much sharper focus. We can see him acting off the film's star, James Franco and, crucially, we can see Franco acting off him (a shift from earlier videos on the same theme, which were far more limited). It's a common conceit of critics that certain actors don't just perform luminously themselves - they make everyone around them look better, too. Here's an example of how a mo-cap performer can do just that at a level with which a tennis ball on a stick might struggle to compete.
To my mind, it's clear that Serkis is providing a standout performance here - I can even imagine people paying money to see him perform, sans monkey-suit, on stage. If only Fox had released this footage a few months ago as awards season began to kick into top gear. All Oscars ballots for the 2012 ceremony's nominees have already been sent to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the nominations will be announced on Tuesday. If Serkis isn't on the list, there won't be any opportunity for him to benefit in the second round of voting for the final prizes.
It may be too late for this year's Oscars to see the first mo-cap acting nominee in history, but does this video shift your opinion when it comes to the discipline? And should Serkis really be on the list of best actor nominees next week?
