One of the biggest technological advancements in filmmaking over the last few decades has been that of motion capture performances. The process, pioneered by George Lucas on The Phantom Menance and Peter Jackson with the Lord of the Rings films, captures the physicality of an actor’s performance and translates it into a digital framework, allowing a fully-CGI character to then be overlayed on the actor in the film. It allows an actor to embody their character more accurately, as instead of attempting to act through many layers of makeup and prosthetics, the nuance of their performance is maintained and translated directly into the digital model. While it has taken a while for the technology to really catch on and become commonplace, mo-cap characters are now popping up in major Hollywood films all the time.

With the technology having progressed and grown to the level that it has, there are now a great number of motion capture performances that have been put to screen over the years. Whether the actors are portraying aliens, robots, apes, or any other kind of life form, there have been some truly outstanding performances given through the use of motion capture. Here are some of the best:

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9 Alan Tudyk - K-2SO

     Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Considering the first fully-CGI character made with motion-capture came from Star Wars, it only makes sense that a performance from the galaxy far, far away would make this list. The technology has certainly come a long way since the days of Ahmed Best’s performance as Jar Jar Binks. As for Alan Tudyk, he played the droid character of K-2SO in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Tudyk’s performance in the role marks the first time in the history of the franchise that one of the central droids was not just a person in a robot costume, and it was the beginning of a trend that would continue with Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37 in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Taika Waititi as IG-11 in The Mandalorian.

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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Tudyk is known for playing all sorts of eccentric characters, ranging from Wash in the TV series Firefly to the chicken Heihei in Disney’s Moana, but his performance as K-2SO in Rogue One might be a career-best for him. For a character who is literally a robot, Tudyk brought so much organic personality and charm to the former Imperial droid. Rogue One is one of the darkest Star Wars films, and K-2SO plays an important role in providing some comedic levity to the film. Tudyk brilliantly conveys the character’s immensely dry (and often unintentional) sense of humor. He’s arguably the best droid in Star Wars, and fingers crossed we get to see Tudyk play the character again in the upcoming Andor series on Disney+.

8 Mark Ruffalo – The Hulk

     Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one franchise that has wholeheartedly embraced motion capture technology. While they often use the tech for the supersuits for heroes such as Spider-Man or Iron Man, it is also used for Mark Ruffalo’s performance as the Incredible Hulk. At this point, Ruffalo has probably spent more time in a mo-cap suit than most people, as he has now portrayed the Hulk through mocap in six different titles (The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Infinity War, Endgame and She-Hulk) and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of him hanging up the weird gray spandex anytime soon.

The Hulk has undergone quite the character transformation throughout Ruffalo’s tenure, which is why he makes this list. Ruffalo has had to portray this character in so many different ways, ranging from blind rage monster, to vaguely intelligent gladiator and most recently Smart Hulk. Ruffalo has shown a real dedication to the motion capture craft, and his most recent outings as Smart Hulk have really let his performance shine through the green digital skin of the character. His performances just keep getting better, so it’d be a crime not to have him on this list somewhere.

7 Benedict Cumberbatch – Smaug

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Alright, so this is the only instance on the list in which the character being portrayed is not bipedal. Because the character walks on four legs, it seemed an odd choice at first to have Smaug be a motion-capture character in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. However, that decision really paid off because Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in the role is one of the best things to come out of that entire trilogy of films. Plus, the behind-the-scenes footage of Cumberbatch crawling around while pretending to be a dragon is kind of hilarious.

In all seriousness, props to Cumberbatch for really going for it with this character. Smaug is one of the most iconic dragons in all of fiction, and Cumberbatch’s performance in the role is certainly worthy of that legacy. He delivered the character’s voice with intensely deep vocal inflections that were exactly what was needed for Tolkien’s massive fire drake. He was perfectly cast in the role, and to see Smaug on the big screen made for one of the cinematic events of 2013. It was truly incredible stuff.

6 Bill Nighy – Davy Jones

     Buena Vista Pictures

While the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies don’t have a stellar reputation, that is no fault of Bill Nighy. Nighy’s villainous Davy Jones, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, made for a truly stellar villain for the Pirates series. What makes the character even more impressive is that the films were made at a time in which motion-capture technology was very much still in its infancy. When Dead Man’s Chest was released in 2006 and followed by At Worlds’ End in 2007, mo-cap was still a burgeoning technology that was difficult to work with.

However, Nighy’s Davy Jones remains one of the best mo-cap characters ever put to screen, not just because of how menacing he was, but because the digital effects were mindbogglingly good. Considering those two Pirates sequels are 15 years old now, the effects on Davy Jones still hold up remarkably well. Nighy’s performance brought a necessary intensity to the character while still maintaining the nuance needed for the unexpectedly emotional tentacle-bearded Jones.

5 Toby Kebbell – Koba

     20th Century Fox

The new Planet of the Apes trilogy is arguably the pinnacle of what motion capture is capable of these days. Although the character of Koba is featured in the first film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, where he is played by Chris Gordon, the character really becomes a key part of the narrative in the second film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. In Dawn, Toby Kebbell took over acting duties for Koba and he delivered a truly astounding performance that was able to rival that of Andy Serkis as Caesar.

Koba plays the role of the central antagonist in Dawn, and as such, the character is given a lot of screen time. Much of the film’s social and political commentary comes from the duality between Koba and Caesar, and Kebbell tackled all of that material head-on. Koba is an aggressive and bitter character, but he also shows signs of immense loyalty and pride to be part of Caesar’s tribe. Kebbell portrays the complex emotions of Koba with ease, a difficult task for any actor, but a near-impossible one for an actor in a mo-cap suit. Much of Dawn hinges on Koba’s character, and Kebbell provides a nuanced and grounded performance that sells the audience on why the character believes what he does and how he feels when Caesar disagrees. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is an incredible film as is, but Kebbell’s performance really elevates the movie to a whole other level.

4 Josh Brolin - Thanos

This is another example of the Marvel Cinematic Universe embracing motion capture technology for its lead characters. Thanos is one of the most important characters in the entire Infinity Saga. It would be a big task for any actor to portray the level of intensity and nuance needed for the role, much less to do all of that while wearing a mo-cap suit. Josh Brolin was up to the challenge, and the result was both one of the MCU’s best villains and one of its best performances all around.

Josh Brolin’s first appearance as Thanos was in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and then in a brief end-credit scene in 2015’s Age of Ultron, but Brolin’s best performances undoubtedly come from Infinity War and Endgame. Thanos is basically the main character in Infinity War. He’s a fully-developed and complex character with logic and wit behind his terrible decisions. Brolin portrays all of that with such a regality that almost feels smug. Brolin embodied the character. His persona and acting ability shine through the digital wall and makes the audience believe that this giant purple man could actually exist. He feels like a real person, and that’s almost entirely due to Brolin’s performance.

3 Zoe Saldaña – Neytiri

There are few films that manage to be as much of a cultural phenomenon as Avatar. It is the highest-grossing film of all time, and it single-handedly started the 3D movie craze that dominated the 2010s. James Cameron’s sci-fi epic is another film that entirely hinges on motion-capture characters, as many of the Na’vi characters were performed by actors in mo-cap suits. Avatar is a technical masterpiece, and much of that is due to the mo-cap work on the film. Of all the tremendous performances in the film, it is Zoe Saldaña’s as Neytiri that really stands above the rest.

Although Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully is the lead character of the film, the heart and soul of Avatar entirely rests with Neytiri. Despite her being an entirely digital character, Saldaña’s performance in the role is so powerful that you would be forgiven for thinking it was just the actor in makeup. There is an intensity and a range of emotions that come with the character of Neytiri, and the entire film hinges on her. If Neytiri didn’t work as a character, then much of the story of Avatar would fall on its face. Saldaña was more than up to the task, as she consistently knocks every one of her scenes out of the park. It’s not just an incredible mo-cap performance; it’s the kind of performance that deserves to be considered among the all-time greats. Saldaña is returning to the role in the upcoming sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, so there’s a good chance her legacy with this role will be even further cemented in a few months’ time.

2 Andy Serkis – Gollum

It was as a result of Andy Serkis’ performance as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films that the concept of motion capture really became a reality in Hollywood. Not only were the effects on Gollum incredible, especially for the time, but Andy Serkis’ performance in the role was definitive. He embodied the character so entirely and translated the twisted and divided creature so perfectly from the books that the film version of Gollum has become the only version that feels legitimate anymore.

Serkis’ performance as Gollum is one of the finest performances of the 21st century. The character could easily have just been a strange little creature with a weird voice, but Serkis really brought a sense of personality to the character. Gollum is a character that could have very easily not translated well to the screen; but Serkis really committed to the role and delivered a performance for the ages. In a trilogy of films brimming with amazing performances, coming from legendary actors such as Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee and so many more, Serkis’ performance as Gollum stands tall as one of the best in the trilogy.

At the time, the motion capture technology received much of the credit and attention for bringing Gollum to life, but if it were not for Serkis, then that technology would have very likely been overlooked in the same way it was with Ahmed Best as Jar Jar. Serkis’ performance was radically different from anything seen on screen up until that point, and it genuinely changed the industry.

1 Andy Serkis - Caesar

There’s a reason why Andy Serkis is considered the king of motion capture. While Toby Kebbell’s performance as Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes may have played a key role in the emotional weight of that film, it was Andy Serkis’ performance as Caesar that anchored the entire new Planet of the Apes trilogy. Serkis was already a mo-cap expert at this point, after his work on Lord of the Rings, King Kong and others, but his performance as Caesar was game-changing. It marked one of the first occasions in which a mo-cap character played not only an important role in a film, but was actually the lead character that the entire series rested on

Serkis is amazing in all three films in the new Apes trilogy, with his finest work probably being in the final chapter, War for the Planet of the Apes. However, it is when his performances throughout all three films are viewed together that it really sets in just how phenomenal he is in these films. He goes from being a young, naïve and sheltered ape in Rise, to the respected and wise head of a family and society in Dawn, to a skilled military leader and ultimately legendary figure by the end of War. Throughout all three films, Serkis sticks to the core of Caesar and gradually develops him from moment to moment. His change between all of these roles is gradual, and it happens almost without the audience noticing.

In the films’ respective years, there were significant pushes for Serkis to receive lead actor nominations at the Academy Awards for both Dawn and War. He never did end up receiving a nomination for the role of Caesar, and to this day that is still a crime. Caesar is one of the most interesting characters to come out of franchise filmmaking in the 21st century, and much of that is driven by Serkis’ outstanding performance. It’s the crown achievement of his career and the best motion capture performance ever put to screen.