Shane Rangi: Motion-Capture Performer

Last week the New Zealand Herald interviewed 41-year-old Shane Rangi, who plays Tavros the “Minotaur, the muscle of the ship’s crew, and ‘one of the boys’” in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which appears in theaters this December. Rangi discussed the pluses and challenges of playing anonymous characters as a motion-capture specialist in all three Narnia movies, including ”seven different creatures in Prince Caspian.” Rangi also appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), King Kong (2005), and Avatar (2010).

Whether he plays an alien, a robot or a creature, Rangi is anonymous, disguised beneath layers of make-up, prosthetics, and visual effects. But anonymity also brings more work.

“The beauty of doing creature performance as opposed to straight acting is that because people don’t see my face I can play lots of different characters,” he says.

Rangi trained at Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School where he learned to analyse and build character, skills he draws upon for every creature he plays.

“That’s why for Prince Caspian I could play seven different creatures. I was able to hop into suits and give a different performance for each one.”

You can read the complete interview here. Click here for Rangi’s profile on IMDB.