00:00You have been in 22 different films since the first Avatar.
00:03Don't worry, 21 of mine never came out.
00:05-♪♪
00:12Do you guys know how many movies you each have been in
00:15since the first Avatar film?
00:16Oh, no.
00:17No.
00:18-♪♪
00:20No.
00:20You have been in 24 movies since that time.
00:23And I was trying not to work
00:25because I kept thinking Avatar is going to start.
00:27Right.
00:28And I want to be ready.
00:29Um, you know, I want to be in good shape and everything.
00:32So that's quite amazing.
00:3338 different films.
00:3538 films.
00:36Does it feel that way?
00:37Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know how it feels.
00:40I mean, you know, they're like footsteps in a block of ice
00:44on a hot day.
00:45They just kind of disappear in time to me, you know.
00:49Have I been in any good ones?
00:50Terrific ones.
00:5138 terrific films.
00:53I love it.
00:54Each one a winner.
00:55You have been in 22 different films since the first Avatar.
00:59And you have been in 25 different films.
01:00Oh, my God.
01:02Since the first Avatar.
01:03Jesus.
01:04So...
01:04Um, a lot.
01:05Does it feel that way?
01:07No, no.
01:08I thought it was only like five.
01:10Don't worry, 21 and one never came out.
01:12-♪♪
01:17But there's a great level of gratitude.
01:20And I know I'm speaking for Sam as well in that sense.
01:23The Avatar experience has been a gift that keeps on giving.
01:27It's not just the opportunities that it made for us in our careers,
01:32but also like just how we evolved as people.
01:35You know, it goes to show how important it is for young people
01:40to meet their role models, to work with their idols,
01:43and to learn from them.
01:45You know, I knew James Cameron before I even knew his face.
01:49I saw it in Ellen Ripley.
01:50I saw it in Sarah Connor.
01:52And these were the heroines that I held onto when I was six years old.
01:55And my environment didn't see me or represent me
01:59by my gender, by my race.
02:01But if it wasn't for these characters that he created,
02:04and they're the reason as to why I ended up being an actor.
02:06And then the fact that the destiny and our, you know,
02:09our journeys like brought us together, it's kismet.
02:12So I was never going to let that opportunity go by
02:16and not sort of reap the benefit and learn from it and grow.
02:20The fact that we're able to come back again,
02:22that just feels like it's too much.
02:24It's like, that never happened, you know?
02:27I was not ready for this movie as a parent.
02:29Well, I haven't seen it.
02:31Okay.
02:31So I'm very excited I'm seeing it on Tuesday night.
02:33It has to be.
02:35How old are your children?
02:36They are 18 and 14.
02:38Ah, wow. Okay.
02:39And it packs a wallop.
02:41Okay, good.
02:42I think that was probably the intention.
02:43Yes, I think so. So brace yourself for it.
02:45Good.
02:46I'm curious if you wish Mr. Cameron had the tech
02:49that's available to him now back on Titanic.
02:52I think he probably wishes he'd had the tech
02:55that he has invented and created.
02:56He's done all of this.
02:59Yes, you know, Titanic for Jim, I think,
03:01must have been such a kind of terrifying experience
03:03because a lot of what he was implementing,
03:06I'm sure to a certain extent, was a bit experimental, you know?
03:09And there was no room for error. My God.
03:11I mean, it was all on him.
03:13But the way that he has evolved
03:15and the things that he has done technically since then
03:19are just phenomenal.
03:20And being part of Avatar and really seeing that firsthand
03:23and experiencing it and witnessing the level at which he works
03:27and the performances by the other actors
03:30and what they created with the first one
03:32and were able to share with me, it was an amazing experience.
03:34I want to talk about him as a screenwriter, though,
03:36because you are one of the female protagonists
03:38that he writes so well.
03:39Yes.
03:40What's different about his screenplays
03:41and the characters that he hands to you?
03:43Well, I think there's...
03:45They go hand in hand.
03:47You know, his screenplays are so powerful
03:50and always because at the heart is a strong woman.
03:55And it's not just that that woman is emotionally strong.
03:57She's physically strong. She's resilient.
03:58She's a leader. She's capable.
04:00She's loving. She's welcoming.
04:02She's kind. She's compassionate.
04:04And Avatar is just full of female characters like that.
04:07And that's the world I want to live in.
04:10That's the mother I want to always be.
04:13So I was very inspired by those themes
04:16because they really do underpin the narrative.
04:18They really do pull the audience in.
04:21And that's the reason that this story, I think,
04:24is going to resonate so much,
04:25is because we need family. We need community like that.
04:33The Way of Water connects all things.
04:36I need you with me.
04:40And I need you to be strong.
04:49Strong, Hobbit.
04:51Zoey, you are Mama Bear in this movie,
04:54and I love it. I love it so much.
04:55And it leads to some really intense scenes
04:57in the back half of the movie.
04:59I'm curious how you worked yourself up to those,
05:00and more importantly, how you came down after those scenes.
05:03Um, it's funny.
05:04I was just sharing this with Jim.
05:06It was the first time I've seen him in a minute.
05:08And I felt in Avatar, The Way of Water,
05:13Neytiri challenged me the most
05:17because Neytiri was challenged the most, you know?
05:20The first time, she's just fighting what's in her heart.
05:24And it's just love. You know, she's falling in love.
05:27She's falling into this abyss of, like,
05:29the sensation of love and curiosity
05:32for this other individual.
05:33In Avatar, Way of Water, she's fighting fear.
05:36Yeah.
05:37And there's so much anger, you know,
05:40and unresolved conflict in her heart.
05:42And in a way, it was a very fantastic year for me,
05:48as well as a person where, and as a woman, you know,
05:51the whole, there was just a lot going on.
05:54And Neytiri and I felt my life were really parallel.
05:57If it wasn't for Jake, for Sam and Jake,
06:00you know, talking us off the ledge many times.
06:04But Jim challenged me.
06:05He knows where this woman, this creature is,
06:09and he knows where she needs to end up.
06:11So we're working backwards.
06:13And he's not even going to let me get in her way.
06:15She has a journey that is very relatable.
06:18I am, you know, she's my great-grandmother.
06:22Right, right.
06:23Neytiri's my great-grandmother,
06:24just a warrior that had to do so much for her family,
06:28growing up and raising a family in a time of war.
06:31And just being so tough sometimes
06:34that she couldn't really connect with her heart.
06:36And that's Neytiri.
06:38But, you know, Jake is her heart.
06:40Jake is like her rock.
06:42And we're going to get to see,
06:43throughout the transcourse of this saga,
06:46where they are and then where they end up.
06:49And it's quite remarkable. It's a full life.
06:52To that end, Sam, with so much talk about the tech,
06:55but talk about James as a screenwriter.
06:57Like, when you got the parts of Jake this time out,
07:00what surprised you the most about the journey that you went?
07:02Jim's scripts are always very detailed.
07:03They detail not only the world, obviously,
07:05and the vision of the ecosystems and stuff,
07:10but he's tapping into things that are very personal to him.
07:13And that comes across in his writing.
07:15You know, Jim has five children.
07:17Jim's gone through several marriages.
07:19And I think Jim's growing as a human.
07:22And, you know, in how he deals with things.
07:24And so I think there was a lot of that that just pinged off the page.
07:28Right.
07:29Plus, the guy's got a great track record of sequels,
07:31of keeping it familiar,
07:32but just raising the ante just that little bit.
07:34Yeah, it's hard. You don't bet against him.
07:36No.
07:37Jim Cameron's script reads very much like a novel.
07:41It's not a conventional, you know, film script in a way.
07:45It's very, very detailed, extremely descriptive,
07:48which I really, really like, you know?
07:51When it gets into the nuance of the character,
07:54he can do it in a word. He's a good writer, you know?
07:57He says, he'll say something like, you know,
07:59the set of his jaw is, you know, granite.
08:03Or that sounds clichéd, but, you know,
08:05you get, he conveys things very quickly and very efficiently.
08:10Plus, when you're working with him, you know,
08:11we have a pretty good understanding of what we're talking about.
08:14And what was your reaction to,
08:15because from what I understand, when the script for Two came,
08:18it came with Two, Three, and Four, is that correct?
08:20And Five.
08:21Did that seem, not overwhelming,
08:23but just, were you surprised at how far his vision had gone?
08:26No, not really, knowing Jim.
08:28I mean, I knew that from the beginning.
08:30I knew he wasn't going to, we weren't going to begin work
08:33until we, there was, until he had an ending,
08:36until he had the entire story laid out, you know?
08:40And that took a while, but reading each one was a trip.
08:46If you want to live here,
08:49you have to ride.
08:52I'm wondering what your chief concern was
08:54when you heard you were going to be going back,
08:56if you had any, and how it was alleviated.
08:58Well, I knew Jim and I had met in 2010,
09:02and kind of had lunch and discussed the idea
09:05of creating a character who is related to Grace Augustine,
09:09but was her own person, her own spirit,
09:12someone who felt more comfortable in the natural world
09:15than she does with people, all these things.
09:17And so they were cooking in me for a while.
09:20And when he sent me the, all four scripts,
09:22which he sent all of them at once to all of us,
09:25I was just so excited by what he'd created,
09:29the family, the world, the threats,
09:33and Carrie and her friend, Spider, the human boy,
09:37they have such a special relationship,
09:39and Carrie has such a special relationship.
09:42So my one concern, once I read it,
09:44was I started to reconstruct myself as a 14-year-old
09:50based on my excruciating memories of being that age.
09:54And the one concern I had was the voice.
09:57And I went to a few classes at LaGuardia High School,
10:02for that age group, and what I discovered
10:04was that there's such a range.
10:07Some kids sound like kids, some kids sound like adults,
10:10and girls and boys, all over the place.
10:13So then I just let Carrie have the voice that she has,
10:16and I'd check with Jim every now and then,
10:19and he was very happy.
10:21So that was, you know, I had to achieve some things
10:27and develop them before I got to the set
10:30to really let go and be that age.
10:33Dad, I know you think I'm crazy, but I feel her.
10:39I hear her heartbeat.
10:43So what does her heartbeat sound like?
10:50Mighty.
10:51When did you find your in to the character?
10:53When did you feel you best understood her?
10:56I think it was as soon as I sat down around a table
10:59with all the other actors,
11:01and we just read the script through and shared some thoughts.
11:05And that's when I realized, my God,
11:07I'm walking into a world that they have created,
11:10and I'm honored to be here.
11:12And I felt so welcomed, I felt so included.
11:16It's a very, very special thing to be part of the Avatar cast,
11:20and it's something that I will treasure forever.
11:23There's something that we stress
11:24that I don't think other people can understand,
11:26is that James Cameron had the highest-grossing film
11:28of all time, and then he beat his own film.
11:30Yeah, but that's just Jim, isn't it?
11:32Well, I guess. I mean, how did you feel when that happened?
11:34Well, it's made me now think,
11:35well, okay, so if I have got the longest breath-hold
11:39of any known actor out there so far,
11:43well, then it makes me feel like, well, I've got to go one better.
11:45If Jim can go one better with Avatar,
11:48I've got to go one better with the breath-hold.
11:50No, Jim is just such an impressive person.
11:52I mean, he's a genius,
11:53and when he sets his mind to something, he's going to do it,
11:56and he's going to do it to the best of his ability.
11:59And I try and be a little bit like that myself.
12:02So, I'm sure that's why we get along so well.
12:08Wherever we go...
12:13this family...
12:16is our fortress.
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