Avatar: The Way of Water: What We Learned from the Press Conference

Thirteen years after James Cameron‘s Avatar broke every record out there and ushered in the revival of 3D movies, the long-awaited sequel hits theaters next week. The Way of Water, the first of at least five planned sequels, has a high bar to reach not only to match the acclaim and box office success of the original but to warrant the huge investment that James Cameron made in regard to his career. With all new technology and cutting-edge filmmaking on display, Avatar: The Way of Water is going to be a spectacle. I attended the press conference for the movie with James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, and Stephen Lang. Here are the big things you should know about the film.

This film is about honoring the original but putting the audience off balance

Many wanted to know why it took so long for Cameron to make this sequel. The iconic director said that it was obvious with how much money the original made that the studio would have wanted to make more, but he cautioned that Steven Spielberg never made a sequel to E.T. Cameron wanted to make sure that not only was the sequel going to honor the 2009 movie but also put the audience off balance by doing different things than they would expect. Staying away from spoilers, Cameron did hint that there is a ton we have not seen in the trailers that will hopefully blow audiences away.

The film is not just about the environment but also about accepting everyone and their diversity

Producer Jon Landau said that the themes of this franchise are what makes it so special and that this sequel is more than a cautionary tale about the environment. Yes, nature is a key component to the story, but Avatar: The Way of Water is more about the people in the story. This film focuses on the characters and their relationships to one another and has themes about acceptance and diversity about the world, cultures, and different types of beings.

James Cameron wrote Avatar 1.5 as a backstory for the cast

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana both became parents in the years between the first film and this one. Both have changed quite a bit but have learned about the importance of putting others before ourselves in the form of our children. To prepare for this sequel, James Cameron actually wrote an entire story which Worthington called Avatar 1.5 which summarized what happened in the years between the original film and Avatar: The Way of Water. He also hinted that while most directors would have just made that story as the sequel, not James Cameron.

Kate Winslet joined because James Cameron writes women so well

Kate Winslet reunites with Cameron for the first time since Titanic and plays a really astounding character but she was not surprised. Winslet said Cameron is so good at making strong female characters who are both warriors and also admirable and said the director does not suffer fools. Winslet also applauded the heartbeat of the franchise which is a testament to the work of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana who made this more than a performance and turned it into something palpable.

Cameron says that every crowd scene is just ten actors playing multiple roles

With so much technology on display to make these movies work, Cameron said that when we see crowd sequences with hundreds of characters, it is really the core group of ten actors playing various roles. For such an epic, Cameron made it seem like a really compact, close-knit group of performers who were on screen, something that we would never be able to tell from the finished project.

Stephen Lang helped write his character, including one key scene

Stephen Lang, who returns as Colonel Miles Quaritch, who died in the original movie, is an accomplished filmmaker and writer himself. Because of those talents, he and James Cameron often sparred on set. It was all in good fun because Cameron is an Alpha, and Lang plays one in the film. Lang contributed development and writing for his character, including scripting a scene where he, in his Na’vi form, comes across the human remains of his original body. It is apparently not a spoiler, as it is seen a bit in the trailer, but it does show how collaborative Cameron is with those he respects.

Sigourney Weaver went to high school classes to prep for her role

Sigourney Weaver’s character in the sequel, adolescent Kiri, is one of the most challenging for the actress to play. In the story, Kiri is the child that Grace Augustine’s Na’vi was pregnant with when she died in the first film. Adopted by Jake and Neytiri, Kiri has special abilities that make her very important to the story. Weaver attended high school classes to observe teens in their natural environment to try and make her speech patterns, mannerisms, and posture as realistic as possible.

James Cameron and the cast watched the finished film just last week

James Cameron indicated that he watched Avatar: The Way of Water earlier in the year with no special effects but he and the cast saw the finished film in 3D just last week. Jon Landau was blown away by it, but Cameron was astounded at how he could still see the thousands of individuals who worked on the project to get it from what he saw on set to what audiences will see on screen in just over a week.

There is a lot at stake for James Cameron’s burgeoning franchise as he already has the third film finished and awaiting the box office results to see if Disney and 20th Century Studios will be moving forward with the planned sequels. Cameron did not say anything beyond being incredibly proud of the work that everyone has done. Whether audiences will feel the same way will be true as global movie-goers will get to show that when the movie opens worldwide.

Avatar: The Way of Water premieres on December 16th.