James Cameron and the Cast of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Hold Their Breath - The New York Times

James Cameron knew the question I truly wanted to inquire astir his caller sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

“‘What took you truthful long?’ Let’s not bushed astir the bush,” the manager cracked.

It’s a just query, since aft Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi adventure took successful nearly $3 billion and became the highest-grossing movie of each time, a follow-up that returned america to the beguiling alien satellite of Pandora was dilatory to materialize. Hollywood has changed truthful overmuch successful the interim that 20th Century Fox, the workplace that financed “Avatar” and Cameron’s megahit “Titanic,” was acquired by Disney close aft the sequel yet went into accumulation successful 2017.

So what did instrumentality Cameron truthful long? On a caller video telephone with his cast, helium confessed to blowing disconnected the movie for a fewer years portion indulging his passionateness for deep-sea exploration. After constructing a submarine designed to instrumentality him to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest-known spot connected this planet, Cameron accomplished that extremity successful March 2012, adjacent arsenic his “Avatar” actors fretted.

“We kept thinking, ‘I anticipation helium survives to marque a caller movie,’” Sigourney Weaver said.

And adjacent erstwhile Cameron convened a writers country to representation retired a 2nd and 3rd film, “I conscionable coiled up with much communicative than I bargained for,” helium said. A communicative that was initially conceived to implicit a trilogy came to span 4 much movies, which each required a sizeable magnitude of preproduction: Writing those caller movies took 4 years, and designing their antithetic biomes, cultures and wardrobes took an other five.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” besides adds caller co-stars like Cameron’s “Titanic” pb Kate Winslet, and incorporated respective deep-sea sequences that required the formed to movie underwater portion holding their enactment for minutes connected end. “You ever locomotion distant aft an ‘Avatar’ travel feeling similar you cognize much than you did before, and that’s exhilarating,” Saldaña said.

Do they consciousness unit to replicate the stunning occurrence of the archetypal “Avatar”? “You can’t beryllium a enslaved to the extracurricular forces,” Worthington said. “You’ve conscionable got to spell to enactment and beryllium fearless and arsenic existent arsenic you can.” Still, Cameron is simply a realist: He has already changeable the 3rd movie and a small spot of the fourth, but helium knows that his quality to decorativeness a five-film franchise hinges connected the container bureau show of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” owed successful theaters Dec. 16.

“If we marque immoderate wealth with 2 and three,” Cameron said, referring to the sequels, “it’s each mapped out. Scripts are already written, everything’s designed. So conscionable adhd water.”

Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

It’s not casual to travel up making the highest grossing movie ever, but James, you’ve present had to bash it twice. What did you larn from the aftermath of “Titanic” that could beryllium applied arsenic you travel up “Avatar”?

JAMES CAMERON You can’t deliberation successful those terms. If I brought that into each determination I make, past it’s like, “OK, is the colour that’s going to spell connected the backmost of this Ilu going to marque the quality of $10 cardinal planetary gross?” I person to punctual myself perpetually to conscionable person amusive and bask the time due to the fact that different you’re competing with yourself.

So is this a much amusive James Cameron?

SAM WORTHINGTON Yeah, absolutely.

CAMERON Don’t each talk astatine once.

What was the biggest quality betwixt making the archetypal and 2nd film?

ZOE SALDAÑA There were galore much challenges. I was younger successful the archetypal installment, I didn’t person children. Now I person 3 children.

Did having children alteration the mode you instrumentality risks successful your ain life?

CAMERON Yes, I was beauteous chaotic successful my misspent youth, and determination are a batch of risks that I wouldn’t instrumentality now. I spot immoderate of that wildness successful my ain kids, and determination are stories that are embargoed until they’ve turned a definite age. But it decidedly colors your full position to person children.

I besides privation to bash the happening that different radical aren’t doing. When I look astatine these big, spectacular films — I’m looking astatine you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t substance however aged the characters are, they each enactment similar they’re successful college. They person relationships, but they truly don’t. They ne'er bent up their spurs due to the fact that of their kids. The things that truly crushed america and springiness america power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t acquisition it, and I deliberation that’s not the mode to marque movies.

WORTHINGTON Jim wrote this household successful a large mode wherever not lone are the stakes beingness and death, but the conflicts are rather domestic. You’re inactive having these arguments with kids that you person each day, like, “Pick up your clothes, devour your food,” adjacent though the satellite is astatine war. To beryllium honest, I’ve utilized a batch of what I learned from reacting to teenage boys successful the movie and enactment it backmost into my existent life, due to the fact that I’ve got 3 boys — it’s a zoo astatine my location — and someone’s got to beryllium the Great Santini and support them successful line.

James, adjacent earlier you had kids, a batch of your enactment films explored that parental dynamic. I’m reasoning of Sarah Connor and her son, John, successful “Terminator 2,” oregon Ripley and Newt successful “Aliens.”

CAMERON I deliberation it’s a question of what interests 1 arsenic a writer and director. The 1 happening I’ve learned is that you’ve got to person thing that the actors tin get their teeth into, thing that they tin gully connected from their beingness experience. I knew arsenic I was penning it that Sam and Zoe were caller parents and that this worldly would resonate for them, but if you’re speaking to a young audience, fto them consciousness validated that kids connected different planet, 200 years from now, are going done the aforesaid crap they’re going done close now.

Sigourney, however did you respond erstwhile you learned you’d beryllium playing a moody, motion-captured 14-year-old?

Zoe, what was it similar to play the parent fig to Sigourney Weaver?

SALDAÑA Oh my God, determination were moments I would go, “There’s that teen that conscionable hates me.” I was a girl earlier I became a mother, and I bash retrieve those moments with my ma erstwhile I felt wholly confused and misunderstood.

Movies similar “Aquaman” and the upcoming live-action mentation of “The Little Mermaid” instrumentality spot underwater but don’t really submerge the actors. “Avatar: The Way of Water” does, and the actors had to larn however to clasp their enactment for respective minutes to sprout immoderate of its undersea sequences. What’s gained from doing it for real?

CAMERON Oh, I don’t know, possibly that it looks good? Come on! You privation it to look similar the radical are underwater, truthful they request to beryllium underwater. It’s not immoderate gigantic leap — if you were making a western, you’d beryllium retired learning however to thrust a horse. I knew Sam was a surfer, but Sig and Zoe and the others weren’t peculiarly ocean-oriented folks. So I was precise circumstantial astir what would beryllium required, and we got the world’s champion breath-hold specialists to speech them done it.

SALDAÑA The archetypal measurement is you fake it till you marque it: You archer your boss, “Yeah, absolutely, I’m truthful excited,” and past it’s implicit horror, like, “What americium I going to do?” At best, you’re going to locomotion distant with a brand-new aptitude, but I was scared. I travel from generations of land people, and the 1 happening radical don’t cognize astir land beingness is that if you’re from islands that person been colonized, a large percent of radical don’t cognize however to swim. Through folklore, you are taught to emotion the water arsenic if it’s a goddess, but you fearfulness it.

When it came to holding your breath, what were your idiosyncratic bests?

SALDAÑA I’m precise competitive, but we had an Oscar-winning histrion successful our formed that did 7 minutes.

Was that Kate Winslet?

WEAVER Jesus, yeah, 7 minutes.

Did you person immoderate thought she was susceptible of that?

CAMERON No, and she didn’t either! But Kate’s a demon for prep, truthful she latched onto the escaped diving arsenic thing that she could physique her quality around. Kate’s quality is idiosyncratic who grew up underwater arsenic an ocean-adapted Na’vi — they’re truthful physically antithetic from the wood Na’vi, that we’d astir classify them arsenic a subspecies. So she had to beryllium utterly calm underwater, and it turned retired that she was a natural.

SALDAÑA I got astir up to 5 minutes. That’s a large accomplishment, you guys.

CAMERON Five minutes is huge. Sig did six and a half.

WEAVER To the astonishment of the teacher! He said to get escaped of your mammalian instinct to go, “Oh my God, my look is successful the water.” So you walk respective minutes conscionable putting your assemblage backmost into that constituent and letting those land-person feelings dissolve.

SALDAÑA I was conscionable successful Europe, swimming successful the Mediterranean with my hubby and our children, and I passed it down to my boys — they were swimming underwater. I could bash that due to the fact that I surrendered to something, but it wasn’t fantastic from the beginning, I person to say.

CAMERON Now it each comes pouring out.

WORTHINGTON The trauma!

Since the archetypal movie came out, biology issues person go adjacent much urgent. How does “Avatar: The Way of Water” talk to that?

WORTHINGTON In the archetypal movie, Jake Sully says, “Open your eyes. Sooner oregon later, you person to aftermath up.” That’s what helium does successful the movie — helium wakes up to the satellite and this different civilization — and I deliberation that “Avatar: The Way of Water” is astir protecting each of that.

CAMERON In the archetypal film, you upwind up with a consciousness of motivation outrage astir the demolition of a azygous tree. We person thing precise akin that takes spot successful “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and from what we’ve seen from trial audiences, radical consciousness that aforesaid consciousness of motivation outrage. Does that construe successful immoderate tiny mode erstwhile radical travel retired of the theatre into the mode they deliberation astir the world, astir nature, astir our work to the environment? Maybe, I don’t know.

WEAVER You opened our eyes successful the archetypal one, but the 2nd one, due to the fact that it deals with the oceans and we’re having a situation with the oceans, I consciousness it’s truthful overmuch much transformative. If our extremity is to go portion of the World Surf League run and protect 30 percent of the water by 2030, I genuinely consciousness that this movie is going to beforehand that goal. And it’s enhanced by the information that the 3-D volition perfectly enactment you connected Pandora, successful the water.

CAMERON Jacques Cousteau said, “You won’t support what you don’t love.” He knew that the mode to get radical to emotion the water is to amusement it to them with each its quality and complexity and grandeur. We’re losing the whales, we’re losing the dolphins, we’re losing the sharks. We’re losing the coral reefs owed to atmospheric [carbon dioxide] dissolving successful the ocean. People volition look backmost a 100 years from present and say, “We had each those things, and we squandered them.” So that’s successful [the movie], but successful a precise integrated mode arsenic portion of the storytelling. The informing is betwixt the lines.

The archetypal “Avatar” was a large breakthrough erstwhile it came to 3-D. What bash you marque of what happened to the format successful the years aft that?

CAMERON I deliberation the studios blew it. Just to prevention 20 percent of the authoring outgo of the 3-D, they went with 3-D post-conversion, which takes it retired of the hands of the filmmaker connected the acceptable and puts it into immoderate postproduction process that yielded a mediocre result. I bash deliberation that the caller “Avatar” movie volition rekindle an involvement successful natively authored 3-D, which is what I personally judge is the close mode to bash it. I accidental either bash 3-D oregon don’t bash 3-D, but don’t effort to slap it connected afterward to get the up-charge connected the ticket.

SALDAÑA And look, bash you privation to marque a batch of money, oregon bash you privation to marque thing you’re genuinely arrogant of that stands the trial of time?

CAMERON Do I person to choose?

SALDAÑA It’s unfortunate, but radical chose the moneymaking machine, the post-conversion. And not each manager is similar Jim, with the level of committedness you enactment into it. That’s the quality betwixt a task that is conscionable a blockbuster deed and thing that is genuinely special, and I privation much directors would recognize that. If they conscionable did a small people astatine the [Directors Guild of America] …

CAMERON I’ll thatch it!