The stars of James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” including Zoe Saldaña (Neytiri), Sam Worthington (Jake), Kate Winslet (Ronal), Sigourney Weaver (Kiri) and Stephen Lang (Quaritch) discuss the “Avatar” sequel in this interview with CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell. Zoe and Sam have hilarious reactions to finding out how many movies they've been in since 2009's "Avatar," Kate talks about what makes her and James Cameron get along so well and much more.
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00:00You have been in 22 different films since the first Avatar.
00:03Don't worry, 21 of mine never came out.
00:05-♪♪
00:12Do you guys know how many movies you each have been in
00:15since the first Avatar film?
00:16Oh, no.
00:17No.
00:18-♪♪
00:20No.
00:20You have been in 24 movies since that time.
00:23And I was trying not to work
00:25because I kept thinking Avatar is going to start.
00:27Right.
00:28And I want to be ready.
00:29Um, you know, I want to be in good shape and everything.
00:32So that's quite amazing.
00:3338 different films.
00:3538 films.
00:36Does it feel that way?
00:37Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know how it feels.
00:40I mean, you know, they're like footsteps in a block of ice
00:44on a hot day.
00:46They just kind of disappear at the time to me, you know.
00:49Have I been in any good ones?
00:50Terrific ones.
00:5138 terrific films.
00:53I love it.
00:54Each one a winner.
00:55You have been in 22 different films since the first Avatar.
00:59And you have been in 25 different films.
01:00Oh, my God.
01:02Since the first Avatar.
01:03Jesus.
01:04So...
01:05A lot.
01:06Does it feel that way?
01:07No, no.
01:08I thought it was only like five.
01:10Don't worry, 21 and one never came out.
01:12-♪♪
01:17But there's a great level of gratitude.
01:20And I know I'm speaking for Sam as well in that sense.
01:23The Avatar experience has been a gift that keeps on giving.
01:27It's not just the opportunities that it made for us in our careers,
01:32but also like just how we evolved as people.
01:35You know, it goes to show how important it is for young people
01:40to meet their role models, to work with their idols,
01:43and to learn from them.
01:45You know, I knew James Cameron before I even knew his face.
01:48I saw it in Ellen Ripley.
01:50I saw it in Sarah Connor.
01:52And these were the heroines that I held on to
01:54when I was six years old.
01:55And my environment didn't see me or represent me
01:59by my gender, by my race.
02:01But if it wasn't for these characters that he created,
02:04and they're the reason as to why I ended up being an actor.
02:07And then the fact that the destiny and our journeys
02:10like brought us together, it's kismet.
02:12So I was never gonna let that opportunity go by
02:16and not sort of reap the benefit and learn from it and grow.
02:20The fact that we're able to come back again,
02:22that just feels like it's too much.
02:24It's like, that never happened, you know?
02:27I was not ready for this movie as a parent.
02:29Well, I haven't seen it.
02:31Okay.
02:31So I'm very excited I'm seeing it on Tuesday night.
02:33It has to be.
02:35How old are your children?
02:36They are 18 and 14.
02:38Ah, wow, okay.
02:39And it packs a wallop.
02:41Okay, good.
02:42I think that was probably the intention.
02:43Yes, I think so. So brace yourself for it.
02:45Good.
02:46I'm curious if you wish Mr. Cameron had the tech
02:49that's available to him now back on Titanic.
02:52I think he probably wishes he'd had the tech
02:55that he has invented and created.
02:56He's done all of this.
02:59Yes, you know, Titanic for Jim, I think,
03:01must have been such a kind of terrifying experience
03:03because a lot of what he was implementing,
03:06I'm sure to a certain extent, was a bit experimental, you know?
03:09And there was no room for error, my God.
03:11I mean, it was all on him.
03:13But the way that he has evolved
03:15and the things that he has done technically since then
03:19are just phenomenal.
03:20And being part of Avatar and really seeing that firsthand
03:23and experiencing it and witnessing the level at which he works
03:28and the performances by the other actors
03:30and what they created with the first one
03:32and were able to share with me, it was an amazing experience.
03:34I want to talk about him as a screenwriter, though,
03:36because you are one of the female protagonists
03:38that he writes so well.
03:39Yes.
03:40What's different about his screenplays
03:41and the characters that he hands to you?
03:43Well, I think there's...
03:46They go hand in hand.
03:47You know, his screenplays are so powerful
03:50and always because at the heart is a strong woman.
03:55And it's not just that that woman is emotionally strong.
03:57She's physically strong. She's resilient.
03:59She's a leader. She's capable.
04:00She's loving. She's welcoming.
04:02She's kind. She's compassionate.
04:04And Avatar is just full of female characters like that.
04:07And that's the world I want to live in.
04:10That's the mother I want to always be.
04:13So I was very inspired by those themes
04:16because they really do underpin the narrative.
04:18They really do pull the audience in.
04:21And that's the reason that this story, I think,
04:24is going to resonate so much,
04:25is because we need family. We need community like that.
04:33The Way of Water connects all things.
04:36I need you with me.
04:40And I need you to be strong.
04:49Strong, Hobbit.
04:51Zoey, you are Mama Bear in this movie,
04:54and I love it. I love it so much.
04:55And it leads to some really intense scenes
04:57in the back half of the movie.
04:59I'm curious how you worked yourself up to those,
05:00and more importantly, how you came down after those scenes.
05:03Um, it's funny.
05:04I was just sharing this with Jim.
05:06It was the first time I've seen him in a minute.
05:08And, um, and I felt in Avatar, The Way of Water,
05:13uh, Neytiri challenged me the most
05:17because Neytiri was challenged the most, you know?
05:20The first time, she's just fighting what's in her heart.
05:24And it's just love. You know, she's falling in love.
05:27She's falling into this abyss of, like,
05:29the sensation of love and curiosity
05:32for this other individual.
05:33In Avatar, Way of Water, she's fighting fear.
05:36Yeah.
05:37And there's so much anger, you know,
05:40and unresolved conflict in her heart.
05:42And in a way, it was a very fantastic year for me,
05:48as well as a person where, and as a woman, you know,
05:51the whole, there was just a lot going on.
05:54And Neytiri and I felt my life were really parallel.
05:57If it wasn't for Jake, uh, for Sam and Jake,
06:00you know, talking us off the ledge many times.
06:04But Jim challenged me.
06:05He knows where this woman, this creature is,
06:09and he knows where she needs to end up.
06:11So we're working backwards.
06:13And he's not even going to let me get in her way.
06:15She has a journey that is very relatable.
06:18I, um, you know, she's, uh, she's my great-grandmother.
06:22Right, right.
06:23Neytiri's my great-grandmother,
06:24just a warrior that had to do so much for her family,
06:28growing up and raising a family in a time of war.
06:31And, um, and just being so tough sometimes
06:34that she couldn't really connect with her heart.
06:36And that's Neytiri.
06:38But, but, you know, Jake, Jake is her heart.
06:40Jake is like her rock.
06:42And, and we're going to get to see
06:43throughout the transcourse of this saga
06:46where they are and then where they end up.
06:49And it's quite remarkable. It's a full life.
06:52Uh, to that end, uh, Sam,
06:53with so much, uh, talk about the tech,
06:55but talk about James as a screenwriter.
06:57Like, when you got the parts of, of Jake this time out,
07:00what surprised you the most about the journey that you went?
07:02Jim's scripts are always very detailed.
07:03They detail not only the world, obviously,
07:05and the, and the vision of the, the ecosystems and stuff.
07:10But he's tapping into things that are very personal to him.
07:13And that's always, that comes across in his writing.
07:15You know, Jim has five children.
07:17Jim's gone through several marriages.
07:19And I think Jim's growing as a, as a human.
07:22And, uh, you know, in how he deals with things.
07:24And so I think there was a lot of that
07:25that just pinged off the page.
07:28Um, you know, plus the guy's got a great track record of sequels,
07:31of keeping it familiar,
07:32but just raising the ante just that little bit.
07:34Yeah, it's hard. You don't bet against him.
07:36No.
07:37Jim Cameron's script is, reads very much like a novel.
07:41It's not a conventional, uh, you know, film script in a way.
07:45It's very, very detailed, extremely descriptive,
07:48which I, which I really, really like, you know.
07:51When it gets into the nuance of the character,
07:54he can do it in a word.
07:55He's a good writer, you know.
07:56He says, uh, he'll say something like, you know,
07:59uh, the set of his jaw is, uh, you know, granite.
08:03Or that sounds cliched, but, you know, you get,
08:06he conveys things very quickly and very efficiently.
08:10Plus, when you're working with him, you know,
08:11we have a pretty good understanding of what we're talking about.
08:14And what was your reaction to, because from what I understand,
08:16when the script for Two came, it came with Two, Three, and Four.
08:19Is that correct? And Five.
08:20Did that seem, not overwhelming, but just,
08:23were you surprised at how far his vision had gone?
08:26No, not really, knowing Jim.
08:28I mean, I knew that from the beginning.
08:30I knew he wasn't going to, we weren't going to begin work
08:33until we, there was, until he had an ending.
08:36Until he had the entire story laid out, you know.
08:40And, uh, and that took a while, but reading each one was a trip.
08:46If you want to live here,
08:49you have to ride.
08:52I'm wondering what your chief concern was
08:54when you heard you were going to be going back,
08:56if you had any, and how it was alleviated.
08:58Well, I knew, uh, Jim and I had met in 2010,
09:02and kind of had lunch and discussed the idea of creating a character
09:07who is related to Grace Augustine,
09:09but was her own person, her own spirit,
09:12someone who felt more comfortable in the natural world
09:15than she does with people, all these things.
09:17And so they were cooking in me for a while.
09:20And when he sent me the, all four scripts,
09:22which he sent all of them at once to all of us, um,
09:25I was just so excited by what he'd created,
09:29the family, the world, the threats,
09:32and, um, and Kiri and her friend Spider, the human boy,
09:36uh, they have such a special relationship.
09:39And, um, and Kiri has such a special relationship.
09:42So my one concern, once I read it, was I,
09:46I started to reconstruct myself as a 14-year-old
09:50based on my excruciating memories of being that age.
09:54And the one concern I had was the voice.
09:57And I went to a few classes at LaGuardia High School,
10:02for that age group, and what I discovered was that
10:05there's such a range.
10:07Some kids sound like kids, some kids sound like adults,
10:10and girls and boys, all over the place.
10:13So then I just let Kiri have the voice that she has,
10:16and I'd check with Jim every now and then.
10:19And he was very happy.
10:21So, um, that was, you know, I had to,
10:24I had to achieve some things
10:27and develop them before I got to the set
10:29to really let go and be that age.
10:32Dad, I know you think I'm crazy,
10:36but I feel her.
10:39I hear her heartbeat.
10:43So what does her heartbeat sound like?
10:50Mighty.
10:51When did you find your in to the character?
10:53When did you feel you best understood her?
10:55Um, I think it was as soon as I sat down around a table
10:59with all the other actors,
11:00and we just read the script through and shared some thoughts.
11:04And that's when I realized,
11:06my God, I'm walking into a world that they have created,
11:10and I'm honored to be here.
11:12And I felt so welcomed, I felt so included.
11:15Um, it's a very, very special thing to be part of the Avatar cast,
11:20and it's something that I will treasure forever.
11:23There's something that we stress
11:24that I don't think other people can understand,
11:26is that James Cameron had the highest-grossing film of all time,
11:29and then he beat his own film.
11:30Yeah, but that's just Jim, isn't it?
11:32Well, I guess. I mean, how did you feel when that happened?
11:34Well, it's made me now think,
11:35well, okay, so if I have got the longest breath hold,
11:39um, of any known actor out there so far,
11:43well, then it makes me feel like, well, I've got to go one better.
11:45If Jim can go one better with Avatar,
11:48I've got to go one better with the breath hold.
11:50No, Jim is just such an impressive person.
11:52I mean, he's a genius,
11:53and when he sets his mind to something,
11:55he's going to do it, and he's going to do it to the best of his ability.
11:58And I, you know, I try and be a little bit like that myself.
12:01Yeah.
12:03So, I'm sure that's why we get along so well.
12:08Wherever we go...
12:13this family...
12:15is our fortress.