When casting the role of Hero Girl, "The Polar Express" filmmakers had the benefit of not having to choose an actress based upon her age. Because of the new technology employed in creating "The Polar Express," it was just as easy for an adult to take on the role of the story's main female character. Without the age limitation, writer/director Robert Zemeckis turned to Image Award nominee Nona Gaye to become his Hero Girl.
"Nona was absolutely wonderful. Her ability to understand the character and present it in a way that is so charming and endearing was exactly what we needed," proclaimed Zemeckis.
INTERVIEW WITH NONA GAYE ('Hero Girl'):
Can you talk about the physical process of getting into the performance capture suit?
It wasn’t too bad. We got used to it. There’s Velcro involved, and there’s Spandex involved. Going to the bathroom is a bit of an issue. Because your glove gets stuck here [indicating her shoulder], and [other parts] get stuck together. Me and Tom [Hanks] would complain about that kind of stuff. But other than that, it wasn’t that bad.
All the actors had dozens of markers on their faces capturing their movements. Did that change your performance?
No. No, once they’re on, they are stuck on there. If something falls, they immediately replace a marker. We have so many markers on our face that it actually settles in and starts to feel like your own face. And there are so many that they are able to capture every single nuance of every expression that we give, so it’s us. It’s really our performance.
Did it make you self-conscious of your movements? Did you think about smiling or frowning or other facial expressions more than you normally would?
Nope, because Bob [Zemeckis] does that. Bob makes sure whether or not you’re smiling too much.
It was so great because I had never been in this situation. Mr. Zemeckis was sitting over in the corner with no camera in front of him, just watching. We’re in this room like half the size of [“The Polar Express” premiere area at Grauman’s] and it’s just like, “Wow, nothing has ever been done like this before.”
Is it more like acting on stage?
Yes. I was just about to say it’s like black box acting. It is, yeah.
When you were working opposite Tom Hanks and you're both playing kids, did that change the dynamic between the two of you?
You know what? Yes. I would watch him go from The Conductor to Hero Boy, and it’s so funny because I would watch him as The Conductor and I would become afraid. I would become a child and I would be like, “Oh no, he’s The Conductor.” Then he would become Hero Boy again and it’d be like, “Oh, he’s my friend again.” So we really did turn into children on that set. We really did. We had a lot of fun. We were jumping around on trampolines and playing Ding Dong Ditch on people’s trailers. It was silly (laughing).
Additional Interviews from the Premiere of "The Polar Express:"
Tom Hanks & Robert Zemeckis / Peter Scolari / Daryl Sabara / Producer Steve Starkey
