James Cameron has definitely set a new standard for Hollywood filmmakers, as he had directed two Avatar films: the first and Avatar: The Way of Water, both of which earned $2 billion at the global box office. The box office hit film also earned Zoe Saldana an outstanding award for starring in multiple billion-dollar franchises, along with Marvel. But apart from Saldana’s success is Sigourney Weaver for directing “90%” of her scenes in the sequel.
Recently, Cameron has revealed during a Q and A session with producers and stars from Avatar: The Way of Water, a session shared by YouTuber user Vicky Marx, that Sigourney Weaver almost had free reign on how her character gets portrayed in the sequel. Check out his full quote below:
“We had a very trusted double [for Kiri], Alicia Vela-Bailey, that Sigourney worked with,” Cameron said, “We did an interesting thing, which was … Alicia would do some of the things that Sig couldn’t physically do, like leap up onto the tank like a… 15-year-old, happy, gazelle girl.”
Cameron continued on to say how it’s all about “creating a relationship of trust” that led him to let Weaver direct her own stuff, “And I said, “Okay, I don’t want to direct Alicia, I want you [Sigourney] to direct Alicia.” I basically said, “Okay, that director role, I assign to you,” so that Alicia would do, how you saw Kiri, acting and moving, and so on. And Sigourney did about 90% of her own stuff, including everything underwater and all that sort of thing.”
The Kiri actress once had doubts about Cameron. After having already shot scenes for the sequel, Weaver barely received any concrete feedback on her performance, which rattled her a bit, seeing as she was a 73-year-old actress portraying a 14-year-old. However, Cameron told her this: “You have to stop being insecure. It’s really inappropriate for who you are, how old you are, and what you’ve done in your career.”
You can catch Sigourney Weaver as Kiri on Avatar: The Way of Water still showing in cinemas worldwide.
ALSO READ: Avatar: The Way of Water Lands Oscar Nomination Alongside Top Gun: Maverick
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