15+ Facts About “Avatar: The Way of Water” That Are Just as Thrilling as the Pandora Landscapes

In December 2022, the sequel to the legendary film Avatar was released. This film, like the previous one, amazed the viewers with its visuals and a good story. But few people know about the behind-the-scenes secrets it has.

• The first Avatar premiered in 2009. In 2022, the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water was released. It’s the longest gap between 2 movies ever.
  Together with the second film, the third one was filmed, and it’s going to premiere in 2024. The filming started in 2017, and was finished 3 years later. By the way, it’s the second sequel for James Cameron, after Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

• It’s not known for sure how much money was spent on the film, but in one of his interviews, James Cameron said it was incredibly expensive. And in order to break even, it has to become the 3rd or the 4th highest-grossing film in history.
• James Cameron offered one of the roles to Edward Norton. But he declined because he was more interested in playing a Na’vi, instead of being part of the world, trying to destroy Pandora. Cameron wanted to work with Norton so badly that he cast him for Alita: Battle Angel.

• The inspiration for the creators of the film was a real tribe called the Bajo, who live in Indonesia. They have a nomadic lifestyle, and they live on boats. Representatives of this tribe have impressive diving abilities: according to some reports, these people can hold their breath underwater at a depth of 60 meters, for up to 13 minutes, similar to the Na’vi people in Avatar.
• An impressive amount of filming was done underwater. Cameron wanted everything to look real, so he decided not to settle for computer graphics and used the most authentic sets. The film crew had access to a huge tank filled with 3.4 million liters of water. The director also hired the world’s best breath-holding specialists, who helped the actors stay underwater for as long as possible.
  By the way, Kate Winslet managed to beat Tom Cruise’s 6-minute record for holding her breath underwater: she stayed there for one minute longer.
• The main diver of Avatar stated that about 200,000 dives were made during filming, making it “the most complex film involving diving.” In addition, a cutting-edge camera movement capture technology was developed underwater.

• While in the first part of Avatar, all of the characters spoke in the Na’vi language invented by Professor Paul Frommer specifically for the film, in the second part, the heroes spoke English. This was a great surprise for many, but it is quite easy to explain. It was done because it would be too difficult for viewers to read subtitles for over 3 hours.
• 57 marine creatures were invented specifically for the film, including the Tulkun, which resembles a whale in a way. To bring this and other characters to life, the filmmakers consulted with knowledgeable people from the University of Victoria in New Zealand.

• In the second part of Avatar, a large part of the time is devoted to the relationships between the characters. In one of the interviews, Cameron justified the 3-hour duration of the film by saying that it placed the emphasis “more on character, more on story, more on relationships, more on emotion.” The director continued, “We didn’t spend as much time on relationship and emotion in the first film as we do in the second film, and it’s a longer film, because there are more characters to service. There’s more story to service.”
• More than 25 years after the release of Titanic, Kate Winslet and James Cameron worked together again. In both movies, he gave the actress one of the lead roles, even though Kate used to say she’d never work with Cameron again. After Titanic, she said, “You’d have to pay me a lot of money to work with Jim again.”
  Now, the actress says that these 2 movies are completely different, but they have one thing in common: water. She also says that reading Cameron’s scripts is pure pleasure because he’s such a perfectionist.

• Winslet was amazed that she’d play a pregnant character. She says that pregnant women are not often shown in movies, and when they are, they are usually weak and passive. But her character is not like that.

• Sigourney Weaver also appeared in the film. At the time of the release of the first part of Avatar, she was 60 years old, and when the second part was released, she was 73. In Avatar: The Way of Water, she played a 14-year-old heroine, the adopted daughter of Jake Sully and Neytiri.
  To get into this role, Weaver visited a high school to understand how teenagers communicate and what they like. By the way, in the original script, Neytiri was “too neat” for a teenager, and Weaver insisted that she be more awkward for a 14-year-old girl.
• Like other actors, Sigourney Weaver practiced holding her breath underwater, and she managed to do it for up to 3 minutes. She also joined her younger co-stars in learning underwater sign language and parkour, for the scenes with Na’vi teens running along tree boughs or racing to the tops of floating mountains. “I was determined to be able to do everything they did. I didn’t want anyone to say, ’She’s kind of an old lady.’”

• Actor Zoe Saldaña shared her emotions after the first time she watched the film, “It’s very emotional. I’m surprised my eyelashes stayed on. I was like, sobbing. So it’s really special.”

• The costumes worn by the representatives of the Na’vi people were handmade. The process of creating these outfits involved various stages, including design, preparation of the decorative elements, and the actual costume-making process.
  They were made from various materials, including leather and fur. The costumes were developed in a way that not only made them functional, but also aesthetically pleasing. They were also tested on models to ensure that they looked natural.
• When asked if there was a particular shot or scene or character that was the most difficult, Joe Letteri stated: “The very first scene we did was the dialogue scene with Jake and Neytiri where they’re in High Camp and Jake is trying to convince her to leave. And that was really where we battle-tested pretty much everything except for the water, in that one scene. So we actually spent a year on that scene just to make sure we had it right and understood it.”

• Edie Falco, who played General Frances Ardmore, made a shocking statement, saying, “I saw the first one when it was out. The second Avatar I shot 4 years ago. I’ve been busy and doing stuff. Somebody mentioned Avatar and I thought, ’Oh, I guess it came out, and it didn’t do very well because I didn’t hear anything about it.’ It happens! Someone recently said, Avatar is coming out, and I said, ’Oh, it hasn’t come out yet?’”
• Jake raises the newly born Neteyam into the air for his entire tribe to see in a manner that is reminiscent of the iconic lift from The Lion King.

• Cameron wanted to make a movie with an unpredictable ending. He said, “I guarantee you, you won’t be able to predict it. What people hate the most is to go and see a movie and say, ’Oh predictable.’ This is not predictable, I don’t think.”
  And finally, the first Avatar film needed 19 days to earn $1 billion, and the second — just 14 days.