00:00 You have been in 22 different films since the first Avatar.
00:03 The one where 21 and 1 never came out.
00:05 [LAUGHTER]
00:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11 Do you guys know how many movies you each have been
00:14 in since the first Avatar film?
00:16 Oh, no.
00:17 No.
00:18 [LAUGHTER]
00:19 No.
00:20 You have been in 24 movies--
00:22 Wow.
00:22 --since that.
00:23 And I was trying not to work because I kept thinking
00:25 Avatar is going to start.
00:27 Right.
00:28 I want to be ready.
00:30 You know, I want to be in good shape and everything.
00:32 So that's quite amazing.
00:33 38 different films.
00:35 38 films.
00:36 Does it feel that way?
00:37 Yeah, I don't-- yeah, I don't know how it feels.
00:40 I mean, you know, they're like footsteps in a block of ice
00:44 on a hot day.
00:45 They just kind of disappear in time to me, you know?
00:49 Have I been in any good ones?
00:50 Terrific ones.
00:51 38 terrific films.
00:52 I love it.
00:53 Yes.
00:54 Each one a winner.
00:55 You have been in 22 different films
00:57 since the first Avatar.
00:58 That's a lot.
00:59 And you have been in 25 different films--
01:00 Oh my god.
01:01 --since the first Avatar.
01:02 Jesus.
01:03 So--
01:04 A lot.
01:05 A lot.
01:06 Does it feel that way?
01:07 No.
01:07 No, I thought it was only like five.
01:10 Don't worry, 21 and 1 never came out.
01:12 [LAUGHTER]
01:15 But there's a great level of gratitude.
01:19 And I know I'm speaking for Sam as well in that sense.
01:23 The Avatar experience has been a gift that keeps on giving.
01:27 It's not just the opportunities that it
01:29 made for us in our careers, but also just
01:33 how we evolved as people.
01:36 It goes to show how important it is for young people
01:40 to meet their role models, to work with their idols,
01:43 and to learn from them.
01:45 I knew James Cameron before I even knew his face.
01:48 I saw it in Ellen Ripley.
01:50 I saw it in Sarah Connor.
01:52 And these were the heroines that I held on to
01:54 when I was six years old.
01:55 And my environment didn't see me or represent me
01:58 by my gender, by my race.
02:00 But if it wasn't for these characters that he created--
02:03 and they're the reason as to why I ended up being an actor.
02:06 And then the fact that the destiny and our journeys
02:10 brought us together, it's kismet.
02:12 So I was never going to let that opportunity go by and not
02:17 reap the benefit and learn from it and grow.
02:20 The fact that we're able to come back again,
02:22 that just feels like it's too much.
02:24 It's like, that never happened.
02:26 I was not ready for this movie as a parent.
02:29 Well, I haven't seen it.
02:30 OK.
02:32 So I'm very excited I'm seeing it on Tuesday night.
02:34 Can't wait.
02:35 How old are your children?
02:36 They are 18 and 14.
02:38 Ah, wow.
02:38 OK.
02:39 And it packs a wallop.
02:40 OK, good.
02:42 I think that was probably the intention.
02:43 Yes, I think so.
02:44 So brace yourself for it.
02:45 Good.
02:46 I'm curious if you wish Mr. Cameron had
02:49 the tech that's available to him now back on Titanic.
02:52 I think he probably wishes he'd had the tech that he
02:55 has invented and created.
02:56 He's done all of this.
02:58 Yes, Titanic for Jim, I think, must
03:01 have been such a terrifying experience, because a lot
03:04 of what he was implementing, I'm sure to a certain extent,
03:07 was a bit experimental.
03:09 And there was no room for error.
03:11 My god.
03:11 I mean, it was all on him.
03:13 But the way that he has evolved and the things
03:16 that he has done technically since then are just phenomenal.
03:20 And being part of Avatar and really seeing that firsthand
03:23 and experiencing it and witnessing
03:26 the level at which he works and the performances
03:29 by the other actors and what they created with the first one
03:31 and were able to share with me, it was an amazing experience.
03:34 I want to talk about him as a screenwriter, though,
03:36 because you are one of the female protagonists
03:37 that he writes so well.
03:39 Yes.
03:39 What's different about his screenplays and the characters
03:41 that he hands to you?
03:43 Well, I think they go hand in hand.
03:47 His screenplays are so powerful, and always because at the heart
03:53 is a strong woman.
03:54 And it's not just that that woman is emotionally strong.
03:57 She's physically strong.
03:58 She's resilient.
03:58 She's a leader.
03:59 She's capable.
04:00 She's loving.
04:01 She's welcoming.
04:02 She's kind.
04:03 She's compassionate.
04:04 And Avatar is just full of female characters like that.
04:07 And that's the world I want to live in.
04:10 That's the mother I want to always be.
04:13 So I was very inspired by those themes,
04:16 because they really do underpin the narrative.
04:18 They really do pull the audience in.
04:21 And that's the reason that this story, I think,
04:24 is going to resonate so much, is because we need family.
04:26 We need community like that.
04:28 The way of water connects all things.
04:36 I need you with me.
04:40 And I need you to be strong.
04:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:45 Stronghold.
04:52 Zoe, you are Mama Bear in this movie.
04:54 And I love it.
04:55 I love it so much.
04:56 And it leads to some really intense scenes
04:57 in the back half of the movie.
04:59 I'm curious how you worked yourself up to those,
05:00 and more importantly, how you came down after those scenes.
05:04 It's funny.
05:04 I was just sharing this with Jim.
05:06 It was the first time I've seen him in a minute.
05:08 And I felt in Avatar, Way of Water,
05:15 Neytiri challenged me the most, because Neytiri
05:18 was challenged the most.
05:20 The first time, she's just fighting what's in her heart.
05:25 And it's just love.
05:26 She's falling in love.
05:27 She's falling into this abyss of the sensation of love
05:31 and curiosity for this other individual.
05:33 In Avatar, Way of Water, she's fighting fear.
05:37 And there's so much anger and unresolved conflict
05:41 in her heart.
05:42 And in a way, it was a very fantastic year for me
05:48 as well as a person.
05:49 And as a woman, there was just a lot going on.
05:53 And Neytiri and I felt my life were really parallel.
05:57 If it wasn't for Sam and Jake talking us off the ledge
06:02 many times.
06:03 But Jim challenged me.
06:05 He knows where this woman, this creature is.
06:09 And he knows where she needs to end up.
06:11 So we're working backwards.
06:13 And he's not even going to let me get in her way.
06:15 She has a journey that is very relatable.
06:20 She's my great-grandmother.
06:22 Neytiri's my great-grandmother, just a warrior
06:25 that had to do so much for her family,
06:28 growing up and raising a family in a time of war
06:31 and just being so tough sometimes
06:34 that she couldn't really connect with her heart.
06:36 And that's Neytiri.
06:37 But Jake is her heart.
06:40 Jake is like her rock.
06:41 And we're going to get to see throughout the transcourse
06:44 of this saga where they are and then where they end up.
06:49 And it's quite remarkable.
06:50 It's a full life.
06:52 To that end, Sam, with so much talk about the tech,
06:55 but talk about James as a screenwriter.
06:57 Like when you got the parts of Jake this time out,
06:59 what surprised you the most about the journey?
07:02 Jim's scripts are always very detailed.
07:03 They detail not only the world, obviously,
07:05 and the vision of the ecosystems and stuff.
07:09 But he's tapping into things that are very personal to him.
07:13 And that comes across in his writing.
07:15 Jim has five children.
07:16 Jim's gone through several marriages.
07:19 And I think Jim's growing as a human
07:22 and how he deals with things.
07:24 And so I think there was a lot of that
07:25 that just pinged off the page.
07:28 Plus, the guy's got a great track record of sequels,
07:31 of keeping it familiar,
07:32 but just raising the ante just that little bit.
07:34 Yeah, it's hard.
07:35 You don't bet against him.
07:36 No.
07:37 Jim Cameron's script reads very much like a novel.
07:40 It's not a conventional film script in a way.
07:45 It's very, very detailed, extremely descriptive,
07:48 which I really, really like.
07:51 When it gets into the nuance of the character,
07:53 he can do it in a word.
07:55 He's a good writer.
07:56 He says-- he'll say something like,
07:59 "The set of his jaw is granite,"
08:02 or that sounds cliched.
08:04 But he conveys things very quickly and very efficiently.
08:10 Plus, when you're working with him,
08:11 we have a pretty good understanding
08:13 of what we're talking about.
08:14 And what was your reaction to--
08:15 because from what I understand, when the script for two came,
08:18 it came with two, three, and four.
08:19 Is that correct?
08:20 And five.
08:20 Did that seem not overwhelming, but just--
08:23 were you surprised at how far his vision had gone?
08:26 No, not really, knowing Jim.
08:27 I mean, I knew that from the beginning.
08:30 I knew he wasn't going to-- we weren't going to begin work
08:32 until we-- there was--
08:34 till he had an ending, until he had the entire story laid out,
08:39 you know?
08:40 And that took a while.
08:42 But reading each one was a trip.
08:46 If you want to live here, you have to ride.
08:52 I'm wondering what your chief concern was when you heard
08:54 you were going to be going back, if you had any,
08:57 and how it was alleviated.
08:58 Well, I knew--
09:00 Jim and I had met in 2010 and kind of had lunch
09:03 and discussed the idea of creating a character who
09:07 is related to Grace Augustine, but was her own person,
09:11 her own spirit, someone who felt more
09:13 comfortable in the natural world than she does with people,
09:16 all these things.
09:17 And so they were cooking in me for a while.
09:20 And when he sent me all four scripts, which she sent all
09:23 of them at once to all of us, I was just
09:26 so excited by what he'd created, the family, the world,
09:31 the threats.
09:31 And Carrie and her friend Spider, the human boy,
09:36 they have such a special relationship.
09:39 And Carrie has such a special relationship.
09:42 So my one concern, once I read it,
09:44 was I started to reconstruct myself as a 14-year-old based
09:50 on my excruciating memories of being that age.
09:54 And the one concern I had was the voice.
09:57 And I went to a few classes at LaGuardia High School
10:02 for that age group.
10:03 And what I discovered was that there's such a range.
10:06 Some kids sound like kids.
10:08 Some kids sound like adults.
10:10 And girls and boys, all over the place.
10:13 So then I just let Carrie have the voice that she has.
10:16 And I'd check with Jim every now and then.
10:19 And he was very happy.
10:21 So that was-- I had to achieve some things
10:26 and develop them before I got to the set
10:29 to really let go and be that age.
10:32 Dad, I know you think I'm crazy.
10:36 But I feel her.
10:39 I hear her heartbeat.
10:40 So what does her heartbeat sound like?
10:45 [THUD]
10:46 [WHOOSH]
10:48 [WHOOSH]
10:50 Mighty.
10:51 When did you find your in to the character?
10:53 When did you feel you best understood her?
10:56 I think it was as soon as I sat down around a table
10:58 with all the other actors.
11:00 And we just read the script through and shared
11:04 some thoughts.
11:04 And that's when I realized, my god,
11:06 I'm walking into a world that they have created.
11:10 And I'm honored to be here.
11:12 And I felt so welcomed.
11:14 I felt so included.
11:16 It's a very, very special thing to be part of the Avatar cast.
11:20 And it's something that I will treasure forever.
11:23 There's something that we stress that I don't think
11:25 other people can understand, is that James Cameron had
11:27 the highest grossing film of all time.
11:28 And then he beat his own film.
11:30 Yeah, but that's just Jim, isn't it?
11:32 Well, I guess.
11:32 How did you feel when that happened?
11:34 Well, it's made me now think, well, OK,
11:36 so if I have got the longest breath hold of any known actor
11:42 out there so far, well, then it makes me feel like, well,
11:44 I've got to go one better.
11:45 If Jim can go one better with Avatar,
11:48 I've got to go one better with the breath hold.
11:50 Jim is just such an impressive person.
11:51 I mean, he's a genius.
11:53 And when he sets his mind to something, he's going to do it.
11:56 And he's going to do it to the best of his ability.
11:58 And I try and be a little bit like that myself.
12:02 So I'm sure that's why we get along so well.
12:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:08 Wherever we go, this family is our fortress.
12:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:22 (upbeat music)
12:24 (bells chiming)
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