Kate Winslet Tells Us About Free Diving and Underwater Filming for Avatar: The Way of Water
"We cracked the code on how to do water," said James Cameron.
(SPOT.ph) It’s been quite some time since we were first transported to the fantastical cinematic world of Pandora. After everything that’s happened in the past couple of years alone, one can’t be blamed for feeling like an elderly Rose Dawson in Titanic. (“It’s been 84 years,” she says as she recounts the happier and wilder days of her youth.) Nevertheless, the long-awaited sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time is finally here and we’re more than ready to dive back into the digital dreamworld that director James Cameron has spent over a decade readying for us.
We recently sat down with Cameron and Avatar: The Way of Water stars Kate Winslet, who portrays the Metkayina free diver Ronal, as well as Jack Champion and Trinity Bliss, who portray Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldaña) kids in the sequel, and—of course—we just had to ask them how they brought those gosh darn breathtaking ocean sequences to life.
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James Cameron and the cast of Avatar: The Way of Water tell us about the highly anticipated sequel:
For those who have not yet opened up Cameron’s “Pandora’s box” of filmmaking secrets, you may be surprised to learn that the sequel took over a decade to be fully realized, as the crew had to literally come up with the new technology that’d make filming motion-capture performances underwater a reality. Speaking on the advancements in tech since the first Avatar, Cameron says:
“We were pretty much on the cutting edge on the first movie and everything was a prototype. We had basically created a brand-new system and it didn’t work that well. A lot of what we did before we started the new film was to just improve all of our code, all of our tools, our entire pipeline to make it easier for ourselves so that we could stand on that foundation and go beyond.”
From the actors’ standpoint, Winslet stated that the months of diving preparations before the underwater shoots were fulfilling on a personal level, on top of just a professional level. She said:
“Well, the most rewarding part for me was that I got to do something I’ve always wanted to do, which was breath-hold and free dive. I found that whole experience just amazing. I was blown away by my own body’s ability to do that. I loved it. I found it very challenging and rewarding. It was amazing. That side of it was really new and incredible.”
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The child actors, Champion (who’s now 18 years old, but was 13 when filming began) and Bliss (who’s now 13 years old, and only seven during filming), felt the same liberation Winslet did when it came to the blockbuster’s immersive production. Bliss said, “I feel like we had filmed the water scenes and we were suspended on wires, that would’ve not felt real.”
Champion agreed, “Being underwater—when you’re actually holding your breath—really helped you feel like, ‘I might as well actually be in the ocean right now, because I’m literally in a giant thing of water holding my breath.’ You feel so much like the character because you’re doing what they’re doing.”
“Except you’re in a tank, instead of the beautiful Pandora reef,” Bliss added. “But those tank days couldn’t have been more fun. We actually went through a lot of training to be able to go into the tank.”
Speaking about their preparation for the shoot in the submersive tank, Champion stated, “We spent days playing in the tank, doing breath-ups then holding your breath minutes at a time. Playing underwater; you know, there are games. After a while, you’re like, ‘Wait. I’m basically doing what the reef kids are doing,’ and you’re just enjoying time in the water.”
Despite both being children of Jake and Neytiri, only Bliss got to dabble in the motion-capture performance, as she portrays the pair’s Na’vi child while Champion portrays the pair’s adopted human child. Similarly, Winslet joins the ensemble as a member of the Metkayina tribe, a new culture of Pandora being explored in the sequel. Winslet donned the motion-capture spandex for the first time in her career, which she says came with a few surprising revelations. She explained:
“Once you get past the suits, the dots on your face, the helmet, and the helmet camera, and how strange that feels, actually in many ways is really liberating. There’s no lighting. There’s no waiting around for people to set the lights up and all of those details that go into a more conventional style of filmmaking. There’s none of that. There’s no hair and makeup. It’s fantastic. It’s just about the actors. It’s just about the performance. It’s a really pure form of acting in many ways, because you can’t hide behind anything. You literally have a camera right on your face, in your face, capturing every single thing that you’re doing, so all of your facial muscles and movements, your eyeballs, everything is a part of that character that you’re creating.
In many ways, it’s very different to film acting but at the same time, it’s the same. You still have to give just as much—almost if not more—because you want everything to make its way into the technology, so that it’s imprinted on your character when you become blue. It was a really fascinating experience.”
As with the first film, the soul of the movie comes in the intersection between the human emotions of the characters and the advanced technology that helps convey those emotions. Cameron even goes as far as to say that the sequel surpasses the first one in terms of hitting you in the feels. He said:
“When you [see the film], I think you’ll see that there’s a big upgrade in visual quality and emotional reality of the characters. We totally cracked the code on how to do water. I mean, the movie’s not all about water. It’s about people. The most important thing is that the people are real people. When you see the movie, it’s this weird almost dream state, where you’re seeing impossible things but they look completely real. It messes with your head a little bit, but the important thing is we got Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet. We wanted to preserve 100% of what they did for us. Their performances are quite moving, quite emotional. I think people are going to be surprised about how emotional the film is. I think much more so than the first one.”
Finally, as we know, the Avatar franchise will continue past The Way of Water into any number of sequels and future installments. Bliss and Champion laid out where they hope their characters, the main family unit of the series, go on their journeys.
“I hope that [the Sully family] can continue to stick together and protect each other. I think all the kids are so unique and different and, of course, that propels the story and sometimes creates conflict among them. I think all of them are on a “Who am I? Where do I belong?” journey and hopefully they find that,” Bliss detailed.
Meanwhile, Champion has more of a down-to-earth view of his character, as he stated, “Hopefully, Spider can relax and make a little hammock off on a island somewhere and enjoy eating some fruit.”
Avatar: The Way of Water drops in cinemas on December 14.