Those that have been keeping up with the headlines about the Avatar sequels, the first of which is this year’s Avatar: The Way of Water, know that the film will be focusing on the marine ecosystems of Pandora to an extreme degree. Reports have already circulated about the cast needing to take lessons for free diving, and co-star Kate Winslet holding her breath for a REALLY long time on set, but now another surprising skill that the cast needed to learn has been revealed. Speaking in a new interview, returning star Sigourney Weaver opened up about the training processes for Avatar 2 and 3, revealing that she and the rest of the cast had to learn parkour ahead of filming.
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“I think many people have a mistaken idea about Jim, that he’s really driven and really serious. Of course, that’s true, but it wasn’t until I was on the road with him hawking aliens that I realized how incredibly funny the guy is,” Weaver told Interview Magazine (H/T CBR). “I was like, ‘Where did this come from, and where was it when we were spending months running around with the machine gun you designed?’ I know he’s going to present me with really unique challenges, and he’s not going to be shy about getting what he wants.”
She continued, “In many cases, my first reaction is, ‘I can’t do that.’ I don’t voice this, because I know that I’ll get teased mercilessly about what a wuss I am, but I think that everyone enjoys working with Jim because he does demand so much. On Avatar: The Way of Water, I was older than a lot of the other people, and we had to do a lot of parkour. We had to do burpees. We had to do freediving. Don’t you love these jobs where you have to learn some really outlandish thing that you keep with you for the rest of your life? Freediving, especially, I’m grateful that we spent a year doing that.”
Those that recall the plot of the original Avatar (There are dozens of us) will remember that Sigourney Weaver’s character Dr. Grace Augustine actually died in the original film. It hasn’t been confirmed exactly how she’ll be back in the new movie but it was previously confirmed that Weaver will play Jake and Neytiri’s teenage Na’vi daughter, Kiri, in the film.ย
Avatar: The Way of Waterย is set to arrive on December 16, 2022, withย Avatar 3ย set to debut two years later on December 20, 2024. ย
