Stinson didn’t realize he had worked on “District 9” until he put the pieces together during an outing during the film’s promotional period. “I think I was sitting in the movie theater and the trailer came up,” he explained. “And I was like, ‘I think I f—king worked on that.’ I had no idea. I swear.”
It’s an interesting perspective Stinson gives us into the life of a motion capture artist. Unlike regular actors who are completely immersed in the worlds of the films they’re working on, motion capture folks are given a more narrow view of their projects, which sometimes stops at the general gist of their characters. It seems to be both a pro and a con; On the one hand, it allows the actor to immerse themselves even further into the foundations of their character, but on the other, having a more full picture of who they’re supposed to be can work to an actor’s advantage depending on the story. Ultimately, the physicality of these characters was one of the most important elements, and stripping the aliens down to their foundations was definitely the right move here. Their strange gestures and motions are wholly unique to their specific type of alien, and help the world-building of the film shine.
“‘District 9’ was cool, man,” Stinson told Housman. “I’m glad that it ended up being what it was and not just something that was some weird Doritos commercial or something.” Aren’t we all, sir. Aren’t we all.
