Mark Ruffalo seems pretty excited about playing the gamma-induced, good doctor, Bruce Banner in the forthcoming Marvel ensemble The Avengers - so excited in fact that he's getting himself confused between stop-motion and motion-capture technology. In a recent interview with Vulture, the Zodiac and Shutter Island actor revealed that they'll be bringing the green beast to life via motion-capture (or mo-cap as the cool kids would pronounce it); the same tech used for Golum in Lord Of The Rings and all those big blue Na'vi folk in Avatar. He said:
"I'm really excited. No one's ever played the Hulk exactly, they've always done CGI... They're going to do the Avatar stop-action, stop-motion capture. So I'll actually play the Hulk. That'll be fun."
Ruffalo added that he's drawing inspiration from Bill Bixby's ever-popular version of Banner from the 70's TV series:
"I really love the first TV version of it, the Bill Bixby one... I'm gonna shoot for that a little bit. He was an everyman in it. He's always on the run and trying to find love. It's really a sympathetic character, before he turns into the Hulk and f*cks everything up."
Don't get confused over Ruffalo's stop-motion comments, as I'm sure all he means is that Marvel are trying to break new ground in terms of visual effects by using Avatar-grade mo-cap technology. It'd be shocking, and slightly funny, if he really meant "stop-motion". I can only imagine Tim Burton oozing with excitement at the thought of helming that project...an Avengers flick that mixes stop-motion and live-action. In all seriousness though, I'm not sure if Mr.Ruffalo or the people who gave him the scoop have all their facts right because if memory serves I remember seeing both Ang Lee's Hulk and the latest Letterier version both apply mo-cap tech to transform Bruce Banner into the raging behemoth. The technology used was just nowhere near Avatar levels though, admittedly. I'm one to always pop-in the second disc in DVD sets to watch all the behind-the-scenes goodies, and I can clearly remember the actors being strapped into mo-cap suits, lending facial expressions to their green alter-egos. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Either way, I'm sure the CG in The Avengers will push limits and be even better than the previous Hulk films with its big budget and all, so this is pretty cool information if you ask me.