00:00He reminds me of my mom.
00:01Really?
00:01It's so weird.
00:02If I remind Una of her mother, it's like, okay.
00:06He's the only person I know that can quote Shakespeare and Beckett
00:08and tell you a dirty joke in the same breath.
00:10We don't usually talk about this outside of the villain club.
00:14Stevie, you know what?
00:15When I think of Avatar, you are one of those ones who instantly comes to mind.
00:19You are such a commanding presence in this whole franchise.
00:23Do you still, after all this time, really enjoy these physical roles?
00:27Or do you want to start taking it easy at any point?
00:30Oh, gosh.
00:30I love taking it easy, but I also love taking it easy after I put in a hard day's work.
00:37Yeah.
00:38It seems to me I like the physical challenge of it all.
00:42I'm comfortable doing the hard work, you know.
00:45Even as I get older and sometimes it gets a little more arduous, that's okay by me.
00:52Oh, my God.
00:53I see these fight scenes.
00:54I wouldn't be getting up at my age.
00:57I struggle with it.
00:58So you're doing very well.
00:59You bring serious fire to this franchise.
01:03It is great.
01:04Was it nice exploring a different side to yourself, like that villainous side?
01:09Yeah.
01:09That you probably, you don't seem like you're like at all.
01:12No, I'm not, although, you know, you'd have to ask my husband before I have my first cup
01:17of coffee in the morning.
01:19But, yeah, it was, for me, I never saw her as a villain.
01:23I never played her as a villain.
01:25But I really enjoyed stretching the places within myself of, like, personal power and empowerment
01:32and, like, you know, leadership and taking up space and commanding the space.
01:38And, like, those things that I feel like as a woman, you know, we get used to having to dull
01:47down our edges, you know, in this world just to survive.
01:51But it was really amazing to, like, just, like, burst out of that.
01:56And it felt kind of like falling out of a precipice of my own self.
02:00Oh, yeah.
02:01She's such a dominating force in this whole film.
02:03That voice that you bring to this, like, to approach.
02:06Like, again, it's such a commanding voice.
02:08It's how easily do you kind of just, like, slip back into that when you do these?
02:16Because there are such, like, long gaps in between all of this.
02:19Like, does it just come to you again?
02:22Yeah, it does.
02:23I can't account for it, to be honest.
02:26It's rather a mysterious thing.
02:28You know, acting actually at its heart.
02:30We talk about acting.
02:32I love to talk about acting.
02:33We define it.
02:35We do all the time.
02:35But it's actually quite a bizarre and mysterious process in the end.
02:41It really is based on imagination and a sense of pretend.
02:45Joining a franchise and knowing that you're going to play that huge a part in this.
02:50What does that kind of mean to you?
02:51Because, like, I don't know if you're like me.
02:53I grew up, obviously, watching.
02:54I was 14 when this first film, Avatar, came out.
02:57So it's like, it plays such a big part in your life.
03:00It's such a huge thing.
03:01So to be a part of it, what does it mean?
03:04I mean, it's such a dream come true because it's a story that means something to me.
03:11It's a story that I care about.
03:12It's a story that I think is actually good for the world.
03:15And already just that is, like, huge.
03:18You know, most stories are like, whatever, you know.
03:20But this one is actually, it feels like it is inspiring.
03:24It's very uniting for the world.
03:25It's like everybody is blue when we watch Avatar.
03:28We're all Na'vi across political opinions, across religious backgrounds, across cultural languages, everything.
03:34All of that goes, we're all just Na'vi.
03:36So for me, it's like, it's such a gift to be a part of a story that I really value and I treasure and I think it's important for the world.
03:46But I did not know that I was going to be that girl.
03:49And I, you know, there was a part of me that's like, well, I just enjoy it because it might end up on the cutting room floor.
03:55Because you never know.
03:56Like, the scripts are very big and, you know, there's three hours is already a long time.
04:00So there's a lot that ends up on the cutting room floor.
04:02And you never know with Jem, but I'm just really grateful that he liked what I did and that he was pushing the character along with me and had that faith in me.
04:10It's very humbling.
04:11Was there bits that did end up on the cutting room floor that you were like, I wish that they were in there?
04:16I mean, there's one part that I'm like, that was an interesting choice.
04:20I really liked that scene, but I'm not going to tell you what it is.
04:23No, no, I know.
04:24You can't tell.
04:24But I was curious whether you were like, I really wish it was.
04:27Oh, yeah, for sure.
04:27I guess that happens all the time.
04:29It happens all the time.
04:30It happens with the whole characters.
04:31There's those whole characters that you're like, oh, that was a great character.
04:34Where did that one go?
04:36And you got to work so closely with Steven, who is an icon of this franchise and so many other movies and stuff.
04:42What was it like getting to work that closely with him?
04:45Because he's a force.
04:47He is a force.
04:48He's the only person I know that can quote Shakespeare and Beckett and tell you a dirty joke in the same breath.
04:53And it's like, he is unbelievably charming.
04:55He is so thoughtful and kind.
04:59And he's like obsessed with the Civil War.
05:02And he wrote children's books about like, he's a very, very complex and deep person and unbelievably charming.
05:12I mean, I was helpless before him from the very start.
05:15And I felt very safe with him, very seen with him, very respected by him.
05:21And I love him.
05:22He's one of those people that, he reminds me of my mom.
05:25Really?
05:25It's so weird.
05:26But he does.
05:27He's like, he really reminds me of my mom.
05:29Oh, that's cute.
05:29Have you told him that?
05:30Yeah, I know I have.
05:31And he's met my mom now.
05:32And he's just like, okay.
05:35You obviously got to work with Una really closely in this.
05:38She told me that you remind her of her mom.
05:41I know this.
05:43I don't know.
05:44Was that a compliment?
05:44Was that?
05:45Well, having met her mom, Geraldine, and look, I admired her mom long before I, for many, many years, Geraldine Chaplin.
05:53And it was herself, is herself a distinguished actress and honors the legacy of her own father, the great Charles Chaplin, the man who in many ways defines our industry.
06:08You know, he's there at the basis of it.
06:13And so, Una brings, Geraldine brought that, and Una brings that in spades as well.
06:19Yeah.
06:20But, so, yeah, if I remind Una of her mother, it's like, okay.
06:25What was it then, like, getting to play, like, alongside Una in this?
06:30Because she, she's so watchable.
06:33I don't know what, I don't know how to explain it, but I was like, I can't take my eyes off her.
06:37Well, that's what, but, you know, watchable, it's a bit of what villains are supposed to be.
06:46They're not good for you, you know what I mean?
06:48But you can't kind of stop, you know, kind of craving them, I think.
06:54And that's one of the secrets to, you know, successful villainy.
06:58We don't usually talk about this outside of the villain club.
07:02Oh, right, okay, secret club.
07:04Yeah.
07:04Not allowed to talk about that.
07:05And have you managed to speak to James Cameron about what's next?
07:10Because I know he doesn't want to speak about it, but has he had conversations with you?
07:15Yeah.
07:15I mean, I've read a little bit about what he has in his imagination if we were to go forward.
07:24And it goes deeper.
07:26It is more, both equally devastating and inspiring as we go deeper.
07:34Just as this, like, it feels like every chapter of this saga has just gone deeper into the human soul.
07:40And he's just, he's relentless and he just keeps going deeper.
07:43So I really, I mean, I feel like this is a good completion of a saga, but I do feel like there's more.
07:53And I know that he's also said that he has a hundred more if we keep going to see them in the films, so in the cinema.
07:59I know where it potentially can go and will go, and I hope it does go, and I hope that I can remain part of it when it does, if it does go there.
08:13Personally, I don't believe that Jim Cameron can emotionally let this world go.
08:22Right.
08:23I don't think so.
08:24This is a world that he has built.
08:27Yeah.
08:27You know, he's responsible for this.
08:29And so many people, so many thousands of people have invested in this, come along for the ride, as it were, and become kind of co-creators.
08:42But no one is like, you know.
08:45But you've been there from the start.
08:46What impact has it had on your life?
08:48It's carved a niche in my life that will always be there.
08:52There's a flame that is within me that is the Avatar flame that will burn until the lights go out for me, sure.
09:04It's part of who I am.
09:05Yeah.
09:05It's a great legacy to have.
09:07Like I said, when I think of Avatar, you're one of those ones who instantly comes to mind.
09:11So it's a great one to have, I think, as part of the acting legacy.
09:14People love them.
09:15And you're such a great addition.
09:17I mean, you're from this iconic film history, right?
09:20Like that chaplain name is huge.
09:22It's huge.
09:22But you hold your own.
09:24Thank you so much.
09:25You really do.
09:26So good luck with this and with everything else.
09:29You're my final interview of the year.
09:31So have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
09:35You too.
09:35All the best to you.
09:36All the best for 2026.
09:37Thank you, my dear.
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