PUBLISHED ONDecember 14, 2022 10:39 AMByDrima ChakrabortySequels — do you love them or think they ruin a perfect ending?
James Cameron is picky when it comes to making a part two to his masterpieces — only the Terminator series comes to mind — but he had a story left untold with 2009’s Avatar.
He said in a press conference last Tuesday (Dec 6): “I think it’s important for a sequel to honour what the audience loved about the experience the first time.”
When it came to Avatar: The Way of Water, he admitted: “I was inspired by the fact that both Zoe [Saldana] and Sam [Worthington] are parents, and I’m a parent of five. So we wanted to get into the family dynamics, the responsibilities of having kids and what it’s like from a kid’s perspective.”
Sam, who plays Jake Sully, became a dad in 2014 with the birth of his son Rocket, and also has six-year-old Racer and two-year-old River.
Zoe, who plays his on-screen mate Neytiri, is a mum to three as well: twins Cy and Bowie, born in 2014 and son Zen, born in 2017.
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The Guardians of the Galaxy star revealed that she gained the “fear of losing something you love” when she became a mother, and it helped her connect with Neytiri.
“You just spend a great deal of your time creating these hypothetical scenarios that are just unimaginable,” the 44-year-old said. “When I read the second script, that was her — that was Neytiri, but I didn’t see it then.
“I see it now, because my job wasn’t to see it, my job was to be it.”
James, 68, concurred: “You may be fearless when you don’t have kids. You learn fear when you have kids, when you have something greater than yourself that you could lose. And that’s what both of your characters are dealing with, right?”
Zoe continued: “Sam plays a character that would leap off of a leonopteryx [in the original movie], go flying through the air with no parachute, to land on the biggest, meanest predator on the planet, to solve his problem. Would he do that as a father of four? I’m thinking probably not.”
“And you also don’t want your kids to emulate that as well,” Sam, 46, laughed.
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water tells the story of the Sully family and their four children: adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuktirey (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss).
When unforeseen events displace them from their home, the Sullys travel across Pandora to territory held by the Metkayina clan, who live in harmony with their surrounding oceans.
Neytiri and Jake aren’t the only strong parents in the sequel. A new addition to the cast is Kate Winslet playing the Na’vi Ronal who goes into battle six months pregnant.
James said: “When her kids are in jeopardy, boom, she’s on the move, and it’s instantaneous! There’s a close-up of [Kate] I love, where she has a decision to make and then she goes and gets her weapon.
“Her husband, Cliff Curtis’ character [Tonowari] tries to hold her back, puts his hand gently on her belly and says, ‘Honey, don’t go…’”
Kate, 47, interjected in character: “Get out of my way!”
Kate added: “James has always written for women, characters who are not just strong, but they are leaders. They lead with their heart, with integrity, they stand in their truth, they own their power — they have physical power — that is admirable.
“To be part of that and be included — it was just so flattering that James asked me because he does not suffer fools.”
Part of Kate’s preparation for the role included learning to freedive, and she ended up breaking the record for longest breath held for a movie, which previously belonged to Tom Cruise at six minutes.
According to Kate, her husband took a video of the dive and her record now stands at an astonishing seven minutes and 15 seconds.
James quipped: “I’m still pissed off because I’ve been a freediver for 50 years, and you smoked past me and everybody else.”
Avatar: The Way of Water releases in cinemas Dec 15.
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drimac@asiaone.com
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