Sigourney Weaver Was Determined To Tackle Difficult Underwater Scenes In The Avatar sequel to prove she’s still an action woman at 71.
Kate Winslet needed diving classes too
The actress reunited with director James Cameron for the Avatar sequels and admits she was initially overwhelmed by the amount of underwater scenes in the script, but she worked hard to prove she wouldn’t need a diving double.
“I had some concerns, but that’s what the training was for,” she tells the New York Times‘ T magazine. “And I really wanted to do it. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh she’s old, she can’t do this’.”
The actress, who will reprise her role as Dr. Grace Augustine in the film, took to the waters of Hawaii and Key West, Florida to improve her diving skills, and even learned to hold her breath for six minutes while training with military experts.
“My hope is that what I receive from the universe is even more outrageous than anything I can think of,” Weaver added. “I don’t really say to myself, ‘Well, you can’t do this’. Or, ‘You can’t do that’.
James Cameron ‘Lucky to finish Avatar 2 in COVID’
The four films were initially set to be released in 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027 but each has been pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original Avatar movie was released in 2009 and became the biggest film of all-time. It has since been toppled by Avengers: Endgame.
