In James Cameron’s 2009 “Avatar,” Joel David Moore plays Dr. Norm Spellman, an anthropologist who travels to the distant Moon of Pandora to study its indigenous residents, the Na’vi, and the varied flora and fauna of the planet of the planet, the planet of the planet of the planet. Dr. Spellman is gregarious and possesses a light sense of humor, making him a good friend to his human colleagues but a poor match for the more severe inhabitants of Na’vi. He, like several of the human characters in “Avatar”, has his consciousness dropped into the body of a Na’vi/human clone so that he can breathe air and traverse terrain more comfortably. Moore handles the role well and, despite limited screen time, infuses Dr. Spellman with plenty of affable humanity.
It appears that Cameron auditioned at least one other notable comedian for the role, as Josh Gad was apparently a finalist to play Dr. Swetraman. In 2009, Gad had not yet broken through to the public. At the time, he was best known for a stint on “The Daily Show,” a regular role on the Broadway show “Putnam County Spelling’s 25th Spelling Bee” and the short-lived 2007 Fox sitcom “Back To You “. That changed when Gad took the world by storm in 2011 with her performance in the smash Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon,” followed by her role as the popular sinner OLAF in Disney’s animated blockbuster “Frozen” two years later. late.
While he was still on the rise, GAD auditioned for Dr. Spellman and even got so far into the audition process that Cameron made a CGI na’vi avatar of him. Unfortunately, As Gad recounted in an interview with Entertainment Weeklyhe was rejected for the role when his Na’vi self returned from the laboratory. It seems his face and body weren’t a good match for Cameron’s alien designs.
Josh Gad’s avatar looked more like a Smurf than a na’vi
Making “Avatar” films, as most readers know, is a multi-year process. Cameron reportedly began writing down ideas for “Avatar” as early as 1994, around the time the director was working on his action/comedy “True Lies.” He was inspired (obviously) by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (particularly the author’s “John Carter” stories) and H. Rider Haggard, and wanted to make his own anti-colonial science fiction adventure story. Production on Earnest began in 2005, with casting taking place in 2006 and 2007.
It appears that part of the screen tests processed involved the actors being scanned into Cameron’s computers and recreated as na’vi. With “Avatar” being a primarily animated film, it was essential that Cameron could mutate his human actors into lanky, nine-foot-tall, blue-skinned alien creatures with large eyes, cat-like noses and tails. Gad, it seems, was funny enough to be considered for the part of Dr. Norm Spillman, but he was not a good match with a Na’vi body. Gad described his audition as follows:
“I put myself on tape and shortly after I got a call that Cameron wanted to fly me to Los Angeles for a final callback at his Lightstorm production offices. […] [It was] A role I apparently didn’t get because, while James Cameron would have been delighted with my audition, when I was transformed into a digital avatar, I at least looked like an overweight Papa Smurf. “
Lightstorm is, of course, Cameron’s production company.
It remains a sad truth for most Hollywood productions that actors are usually cast because of their looks, not talent alone. Gad might have played his human character well, but Cameron, wanting his aliens to have a very specific appearance, seemingly cast actors based on their facial structures.
Never mind. Gad became a superstar without an “avatar” and was still involved in some of the highest-grossing films of all time. He won.
