James Cameron & the moment he knew he was going to go back: Avatar: The Way of Water

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Images of Avatar: The way of water Global press conference from London, UK moderated by BBC Radio’s, Edith Bowman, Tuesday, December 6th. Fun revelations & emotional moments where lived. Family & love will challenge us in unimaginable ways…please read some of the highlights shared, so you get the story behind, how it all started, once again

Participants in this event included Zoe Saldaña (Neytiri), Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Sigourney Weaver (Kiri), Kate Winslet (Ronal), Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch), director James Cameron, and producer Jon Landau. Below please find the details:

EDITH BOWMAN: Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Landau, Zoe Saldana, thank you for being here, Sam Worthington, and James Cameron. James, what was the moment that you knew we were going to go back”?

JAMES CAMERON: “Well that’s an interesting question, because it seems obvious to everyone, ‘oh, you just made a bunch of money, do a sequel,’ right? Well Stephen Spielberg didn’t do a sequel to ‘E.T.,’ highest grossing film in its, in its time, right? It’s not a no-brainer, do you want to call down the lightning strike again in the same spot? You know, it’s a lot to live up to. But you know, we have this amazing cast and we
figured out a way to bring Sig back, as well, even though her character from the first film dies, obviously. And we also had this amazing family of artists and troupe players, you know, the, all the other actors. When you see a crowd scene in this movie of a hundred people, it’s the same ten actors just moved around, right? (Laughter) so it’s a small

EDITH BOWMAN Zoe and Sam, it is joyous to watch you both together in this new film, it really is, and see these characters. And they’ve lived a life, that’s the lovely point of where we find them. Do you mind talking a little bit about where we find them, what had happened for them, for you as actors?

SAM WORTHINGTON: Jim, gave me a script that was Avatar one point five, that you know, unto itself is amazing and detailed, and full of what they’ve kind of gone through over that gap. And I think it was part of, you know, Jim realised that story was about them being warriors, and taking on the battles of the clans and things like that. But it almost didn’t feel… as you said, you wanted to explore what this family dynamic is, the natural extension of this love story.

But it gave us a good jumping off point to understand how to fill in that gap that’s missing, you know? To be honest, most people would, would’ve stuck on that one, but not this guy. It was pretty amazing, yeah.

ZOE SALDAÑA: It’s so funny, because when something is… very similar to you, you can’t see it. You know, t’s just so close to you that it’s not in front of you. And Neytiri and I, in a way, we’ve lived parallel lives. There is, there’s a level of fearlessness and rebellion that I have, as I guess as a person, that Neytiri had as herself. And I, we were able to sort of find kindred in that. You know, but the leap of falling in love with something outside of you, that challenges you to see something that you’ve never seen before, that has always been her dilemma. To surrender to that, and then to bring forward, you know, fruits of that love, and… but that presents the challenge for her. Because forcing her to grow,
it’s forcing her to love something that she’s been taught to hate. And it’s, you know, it’s And it’s, you know, it’s hard, it’s really, really hard.

ZOE SALDAÑA: Also fear. In my personal life, when I became a parent, fear entered my realm. The fear of losing something that you love so much, you know? And you just spend a great deal of your time creating these hypothetical scenarios that just unimaginable. When I read, you know, the second script, that was her, that was Neytiri. But I didn’t
see it then. I see it now. I… because my job wasn’t to see it, my job was to be it.

JAMES CAMERON: You’re onto it, I mean (Zoe: Yeah), when… you may be fearless when you don’t have kids. (Zoe: Yeah) 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: Yeah). I hadn’t really thought of it in those terms, but that’s it exactly. (Yeah) You know, Sam plays a character that would leap off of a leonopteryx, 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. (Laughter)

SAM WORTHINGTON: And you also don’t want your kids to maybe emulate that as well. (Overtalk)

JAMES CAMERON: Oh, there’s stories I can’t tell. They’re embargoed until they’re forty. (Laughter, overtalk)

To be continue….

#avatarthewayofwater in theaters Dec 16th, 2022

Four sequels are currently planned for Avatar. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is set to premiere on December 16, 2022. The other three sequels are set to premiere every two years, in 2024, 2026 and 2028.

See Trailer here: