1 of 5 | James Cameron, seen at the London premiere of “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2022, produced a documentary about the making of “Avatar.” File Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo
Disney+released the trailer for Fire and Water: The Making of Avatar. The two-part special premieres Nov. 7.
The Avatar films have been groundbreaking for creating the world of Pandora and using performance capture technology to create allow actors to play Na’vi. Writer/director James Cameron says he wants to bring attention to the people who make the films.
“As much as we use computers and technology, Avatar is made by an incredibly talented team of people who bring every expression, every emotional beat and the entire world to life,” Cameron says. “People work for years on the clothing, the fabrication of the props. We had to figure out how to ride a creature. You’ve got to build something that moves like the creature.”
The late producer Jon Landau is also featured in the documentary, discussing adapting performance capture to underwater filming for Avatar: The Way of Water.
“We capture 100% of their performance in the digital world,” Landau says. “We needed to come up with a methodology to do that underwater, to give them an experience that would be as close to Pandoran as possible.”
Sigourney Weaver discusses learning to hold her breath for underwater scenes, while Kate Winslet is seen completing a seven minute, 15 second underwater take.
Sam Worthington, who plays Jake Sully in the films, confirmed that every image in the films reflects his and his co-stars’ performances.
“There’s not one thing that you see us do that is animated,” Worthington says. “It is all us. It is all true.”
Zoe Saldana and Steven Lang are also featured.
Avatar: The Way of Water was re-released Oct. 3. The third film, Avatar: Fire and Ash opens Dec. 19.
