“Did I die?” Filming Avatar 2 pushed the stars to their limits, but Kate Winslet even broke a diving record

It cost up to $400 million to shoot Avatar 2. Avatar 2: The Way of Water and Avatar 3 took nearly half a decade to produce. Director James Cameron’s technical demands were daunting. But the cast around Kate Winslet also had to change acquire special skillsto meet the needs of production. The biggest test: the underwater shoot.

Shooting Avatar 2 underwater was the biggest challenge, even for the stars

Much of the blockbuster takes place under the sea of ​​Pandora. The children of the Sully family discover the planet’s ocean with all its plants and animals. The audience practically dives with them as Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) throws herself into the clear water.

James Cameron developed a new camera system for the traditionally difficult water shots. He also had huge water tanks installed on the set in New Zealand. It looked like this:

Freediving: What was asked of the actors

In order for the underwater shots to be as direct as the scenes on land – and that was the clear goal – the actors and actresses had to learn to dive. Strictly speaking: diving without equipment, also freedivingcalled free diving or English freediving.

Why was the training necessary? Almost all of the Avatar 2 cast were in one during filming Performance capture suit. This should convert the body movements and facial expressions of the actors as completely and authentically as possible. Kate Winslet would become the Na’vi woman Ronal.

From images like this…

… should be pictures like this one.

An oxygen tank with all its hoses wouldn’t just have that Movement of the later film character distorted, but also makes the conversion significantly more difficult. There was only one option: Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver and most of the other cast members had to learn how to stay underwater for as long as possible without equipment.

The cast went through rigorous training for this. According to Sigourney Weaver, Navy SEAL Kirk Krack’s trial lasted a full year, during which “we built up our breathing capacity and did a lot of exercises.”

According to Tsireya actress Bailey Bass, it started out like this: “It involved holding our breath for about a minute, to dive 3 to 5 meters deep, collect rings and bring them up and dive again.” That’s all “intimidating for everyone” been, according to Weaver. But it was only the beginning.

How Kate Winslet outshone everyone – even Tom Cruise – in scuba diving

During the dive training, arose among the performers a little competition
– which Kate Winslet chose for herself. In an interview, she recounted the moment of her triumph:

There’s a video where I show up and say ‘Am I dead, have you died?’. And then I ask, ‘How was my time?’. I immediately wanted to know my time. And I couldn’t believe it.

Kate Winslet had an insane 7 minutes and 14 seconds underwater. No one else on the crew could do that. Kate Winslet even broke an unofficial dive record on film sets previously held by Tom Cruise for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: 6 minutes.

Ranking: That’s how long the Avatar 2 stars (and Tom Cruise) lasted underwater

Variety asked the Avatar 2 cast members for their personal best dive times. This is what came out:

No matter how successful Avatar 2 is, the cast took at least one thing out of the shoot: The stars can have a little coffee gossip underwater.

Avatar 2 has been in German cinemas since December 14th.

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