Gymnast finds fame as ape actor

Terry Notary demonstrates how he achieved ape-like movements with arm extenders for the film.

Directing with wolves

It's all about making a spectacle

Notary aspired to compete in the Olympics while training as a gymnast at UCLA, but after graduating with a theater degree he found work with Cirque du Soleil. He came to Hollywood as a stuntman and, from there, developed into a sought-after movement coach for motion-capture shots, where actors are wired and their movements captured electronically for the building of computer-generated imagery.

He created the lithe, long-limbed motions of the Na'vi in Avatar, taught the Silver Surfer how to ride in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and went ape in three films, starting with Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes in 2001. (He performed stunts in all as well.)

"I'm a good observer of movement and behavior," the 45-year-old says. "That's what my talent is, I think."

He begins with an image of the character. For imaginary creatures, he might picture objects from nature. When conceptualizing the Na'vi, for example, he thought of reeds swaying underwater, gracefully at ease with the energy around them. For a goblin, he thought of a piece of crumpled tin foil.

"If you throw it, it has hard edges," he says. "It's not going to be predictable. It's going to be edgy and sharp and not have any root."

To develop ape expertise, Notary hung out with a couple of chimps and spent a lot of time watching primates at the zoo, videotaping and studying their behavior.