Andy Serkis has said that the motion capture used in the film Beowulf marks the future for actors, and this type of performance will become the standard for actors as they seek new roles. I have to admit I think hes right, and he too doesnt lose sight of the fact that it will not replace actors but compliment them.

Its interesting that we were just talking about this in the comments of another story, and I firmly believe that well not be able to replace actors with CGI for a very long time, however motion capture bridges that gap and makes it possible to create motion captures CGI for animated films and videogames.

Over at SciFi Wire Serkis says (sounds like a TV show!):

"It is ... especially [true] with video games and the convergence of video games and film. Its actually a really interesting time for actors. Robert Zemeckis has just made Beowulf with Anthony Hopkins and John Malkovich, Ray Winstone and all kinds of high profile and serious actors creating these characters. They are creating the movements. They are creating the personalities, and its the manifestation of those characters which is being handed over...

...I do believe that in five or 10 years time that actors will come out of drama school, and they will do theater, and theyll do film, and theyll do TV, and then theyll be doing video games...Ive never ever drawn a distinction in the process of creating a character in a CG role and in a conventional role. For me there is no difference."

Hes right that this will just become another channel for actors to play roles, the complexities of the human behaviour and voice will still need to be copied for computers for a very long time to come, and so actors will find that they have another avenue for working in. Doug Jones is exploiting this as a strong CGI actor. This new avenue for acting is just like any other, except it results in a different final medium, but it still requires a strong actors performance.