Zoe Saldana hopes an Avatar documentary will finally give actors the "credit" they deserve for performance capture roles.

The 47-year-old actress - who has starred in three Avatar instalments so far - is delighted the moviemaker is considering releasing a film about the franchise because she believes giving fans a behind-the-scenes because will give the actors more "credit" for their performance capture roles.

She told Beyond Noise: "I'm excited that James Cameron is considering a documentary about the making of Avatar - finally giving us the chance to explain in a meticulous way, why performance capture is the most empowering form of acting.

"It gives us the credit, the ability to own 100 per cent of our performance on screen."

She added: "With animation, you might go into the studio for [a few] sessions; that's as much as they'll need you for the whole movie.

"You go into a studio, however you're dressed, and you lend your voice, right?

"Performance capture means that Avatar wouldn't exist if [Avatar stars] Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself, and the entire cast didn't get up and put those dots on our faces.

"We put on that little unitard with all those dots on it, and step into a volume - that's what we call the set - that's rigged on the ceiling, with all these cameras in measured positions.

"They're all pointing into this space that finds us, and feeds that information into the system that is [Avatar world] Pandora."

Zoe appeared in the original 2009 film and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water while she's also part of the cast for the third film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is due for release in December.

Cameron is also said to be planning two more Avatar movies in 2029 and 2031.

The actress went on to explain the huge amount of effort it takes to make every Avatar movie.

She said: "It takes an average of seven years between [each Avatar film]. From the archery, the martial arts, the free diving, the scuba diving - so that you can hold your breath underwater for longer than five minutes - to the language [Cameron] conceived out of thin air, to physically training with former gymnasts, circus performers, and acrobats so you can learn how to walk like an extraterrestrial human species …

"That's all us, and a group of incredible stunt actors that make our characters feel bionic. God bless them. With the technology that Jim creates, he gives the artist the power of complete ownership. It's beautiful."