He had a close working relationship with writer/director James Cameron.
Landau helped shepherd movies including ‘Titanic’ and the ‘Avatar’ franchise.
Jon Landau, a respected film producer who is in large part responsible for James Cameron’s movies since ‘Titanic’ making it successfully to screens, has died after a cancer diagnosis. He was 63.
Landau, who had a passion for movies, was always a welcome, warm presence for members of the press on sets, where he was the biggest champions of the filmmakers with whom he worked, and frequently made himself available to tour sets and answer questions.
Born in 1960 in New York, he was the son of Ely A. Landau and Edie Landau, who owned Manhattan movie houses, founded the American Film Theater and produced more than a dozen films themselves.
Landau’s own path to cinematic history began at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
His early career saw him climb the ranks at 20th Century Fox, eventually becoming Executive Vice President of Feature Production. This period honed his producing skills, seeing him work on movies such as ‘Die Hard 2’, ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘True Lies’, which brought him into contact with director James Cameron.
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Jon Landau and James Cameron
Director James Cameron for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
Landau and Cameron had such a successful working partnership on that film that when Landau decided to go back to producing himself, he received offers from three directors and opted to join Cameron to work on a project the filmmaker had codenamed ‘Planet Ice’.
The result, of course, was ‘Titanic’, which became a cultural phenomenon. Despite a monumentally (and well-documented) troubled production, the movie shattered box office records and garnered Landau his first Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Landau joined Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment company and the duo continued their successful partnership, with ‘Avatar’ surpassing ‘Titanic’ to become the highest-grossing film of all time (a record it held for a decade).
They continued to push cinematic boundaries with ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ (directed by Robert Rodriguez) and the recent ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ solidifying Landau’s position as a producer who consistently delivered visually stunning and commercially successful movies.
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Cameron sent a statement to Variety about Landau’s passing:
“The ‘Avatar’ family grieves the loss of our friend and leader, Jon Landau. His zany humor, personal magnetism, great generosity of spirit and fierce will have held the center of our ‘Avatar’ universe for almost two decades. His legacy is not just the films he produced, but the personal example he set — indomitable, caring, inclusive, tireless, insightful and utterly unique. He produced great films, not by wielding power but by spreading warmth and the joy of making cinema. He inspired us all to be and to bring our best, every day. I have lost a dear friend, and my closest collaborator of 31 years. A part of myself has been torn away.”
Jon Landau Dies: Peter Jackson Pays Tribute
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’s Oscar winning producer Jon Landau.
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who in addition to their own filmmaking achievements, co-own Wētā FX, which crafts the effects for the ‘Avatar’ movies, paid tribute:
“We speak for the entire Wētā FX team when we say we are devastated by the loss of Jon Landau. Jon was not only a monumental figure in the film industry but also a cherished collaborator and friend. Jon brought unparalleled passion to the projects he worked on, and his influence will continue to inspire for years to come. Our deepest condolences are with Jon’s family and loved ones, as well as Jim and the Lightstorm Entertainment team.”
Landau is survived by his wife Julie, who once worked as a film accountant; sons Jamie, an actor, Jodie, a vocalist, composer and percussionist, two sisters, Tina Landau, a theater director, and Kathy Landau, executive director of the Manhattan arts organization Symphony Space; and half-brother Les Landau, a director on various ‘Star Trek’ series.
Director James Cameron for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
Preview:
James Cameron has talked about the future of ‘Avatar’.
He is working on the third now and has ideas for sixth and seventh entries.
The third movie is due in theaters in 2025.
James Cameron is still going full speed ahead on his ‘Avatar’ franchise. The sci-fi films, whose first two entries sit on the list of the first and third highest-grossing movies of all time, have sequels planned for years to come, with the third currently being shepherded through post-production.
And now, talking to People magazine at the Saturn Awards, Cameron has talked up the even further potential future of the movies.
Cameron is clearly committed to making more movies, but even he has his limits.
This is what he told the magazine about future entries…
“We’re fully written through movie five, and I’ve got ideas for six and seven, although I’ll probably be handing the baton on at that point. I mean, mortality catches up. But I mean, we’re enjoying what we’re doing. We’re loving it. We get to work with great people.”
Given that Cameron will be 76 by the time the fifth movie hits theaters, not to mention the long production process each entry requires, he’d likely be into his 80s by the time a sixth or seventh movie arrived.
Which is not to say he won’t somehow find a way to download his consciousness into a robotic body (though that might get a little too close to ‘Terminator’ for comfort) and keep going.
Still, Cameron has shown willingness to hand over projects in the past –– he was developing ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ for years but had Robert Rodriguez direct it as he was focusing on ‘Avatar’s sequels. So we’re sure he’s already started the process of looking for an heir to the ‘Avatar’ empire.
James Cameron on why he keeps making ‘Avatar’ movies
Cameron was his typically candid self when addressing the issue of fan concerns that he’s effectively dedicated the rest of his life to one franchise (even if the movies themselves do end up being wildly successful). He referenced other famous movie and TV series as his explanation.
Here’s what he said:
“People are always asking us, ‘So why did you just keep working in the same…’ Why did Lucas keep working in the same thing? Why did Roddenberry keep working in the same thing? Because when you connect with people, why would you squander that? Why would you start over with something else that might not connect?”
When will the next ‘Avatar’ movies be in theaters?
‘Avatar 3’ is set to be released on December 19th, 2025. The fourth is scheduled for December 21st, 2029, and ‘Avatar 5’ on December 19th, 2031.
The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And Disney is not immune to changes in schedule. The company has announced that it is moving the release dates for a lot of its big upcoming movies, and that means we’ll all have to be patient when it comes to the likes of Marvel, James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy.
Marvel, of course, has been delaying some of its films’ production and that is having a domino effect for the highly connected cinematic universe, which relies on films to set up the next entries. Lest the tapestry all unravel, that means moving some movies back.
And because there is only so much space on the calendar (and Disney seemingly already takes up a third of it), that means the next giant, phase-ending team-up movies are also on the move. ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ will be bumped back a year, to May 1st, 2026, inheriting the release date for follow-up ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, which itself is headed to May 7th, 2027.
It’s not all delays for the MCU, though; ‘Deadpool 3’, which is in production, will move up from its original November 8th, 2024, date to May 3rd of that year.
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More ‘Avatar’ delays
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ will be available exclusively to purchase on Digital March 28th.
Though James Cameron’s movies would seemingly not be impacted by a writers’ strike since their scripts are essentially finished, the series can’t avoid the release date shuffle.
That means ‘Avatar’ fans, already well used to the waiting game, will see their patience tested further, since ‘Avatar 3’ has moved to December 19th, 2025, ‘Avatar 4’ to December 21st, 2029, and ‘Avatar 5’ all the way to December 19th, 2031! which means the apparent final movie will land 22 years after the original 2009 film.
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New ‘Star Wars’ movie dates
(L to R) Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
If you were starting to wonder when we might ever see a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, then there’s good news.
2026 will see two movies set in that galaxy far, far away from Lucasfilm, one on May 22nd, 2026 (not the fourth?) and another set for the more traditional recent slot of December 18th that year.
A third film is reportedly headed our way on December 17th, 2027. Disney has yet to clarify any details of which of its in-development movies are taking those berths, but we can assume one is the Rey follow-up starring Daisy Ridley which has Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in the director’s chair and was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration. On the basis of that, we can also predict that Dave Filoni’s film and possibly James Mangold‘s movie might be in the other two slots.
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Live-Action ‘Moana’ and more
Dwayne Johnson announces live-action ‘Moana.’ Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
There are also dates on the calendar now for films that didn’t have them previously –– the live-action ‘Moana’ is set to surface on June 27th, 2025, while Fede Álvarez’ movie set in the ‘Alien’ universe is arriving on August 16th next year. Espionage thriller ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek, is set for November next year.
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Frustration ahead for film fans, then, but hopefully the movies will be worth the wait.
Jordan Peele has clearly earned Universal’s trust. And following the success of ‘Get Out’, ‘Us’ and last year’s ‘Nope’, it’s perhaps not all that surprising that the studio would see him as a heavy hitter.
There are few bigger examples of confidence than lining up a filmmaker’s new title –– without any real details to share –– in a competitive release slot, and Peele’s latest faces a real one.
His next film, the fourth he’s written and directed, will be in theaters on 25 December 2024. That’s right: Christmas Day!
To make it more exciting/challenging, that date is exactly one week after the arrival of both ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ (which we would figure as less of a threat, since Peele’s movies are rarely aimed at kids and families) and James Cameron’s third ‘Avatar’ movie.
That one is more likely to be a challenge, especially since the ‘Avatar’ films have been adept at steamrollering over other releases. The original 2009 film remains the highest grossing modern film, with more than $2.9 billion in the bank. But follow-up ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is no slouch in that department either, having earned more than $2.3 billion for third place on the list.
Skeptics keep pointing to ‘Avatar’ fatigue as a problem for the franchise moving forward but given ‘The Way of Water’s results so far, that’s unlikely.
(L to R) Daniel Kaluuya and director Jordan Peele on the set of ‘Get Out.’
So what do we know about the new film from Peele? Nothing, at least for now. In keeping with his usual style, Peele has this far said nothing about the title, genre or cast for the new movie.
He’s a filmmaker whose work always carries subtext and themes –– ‘Get Out’ appeared to be a relationship drama at first but used the frame of White Guilt to spin a yarn about terrifying experimentation and exploitation on a racially-motivated front. ‘Us’ explored doppelgangers and disenfranchisement to horrifying effect, while ‘Nope’ headed in a more spectacular direction, subverting expectations of an alien encounter story to touch on historic exclusion.
The Christmas Day date doesn’t necessarily mean this will be a festive chiller, but we could certainly imagine the director using something about the season to dig deeper.
That wasn’t the only film announcement to have Peele connections.
Universal, in the same statement, also revealed that a new film from his Monkeypaw production company will also hit theaters –– this one on September 27th, 2024. Even fewer details were released for this one; we don’t even know who is making it.
Whatever Peele has up his sleeve, we certainly can’t wait to see what he does next… Even if he does end up making us all afraid of what could be coming down the chimney one cold December night…
Rumored titles and release dates for director James Cameron’s upcoming ‘Avatar’ sequels.
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is sailing to success at the box office. On Wednesday, the film stood at domestic haul of $337.8 million and an International total of $762.8 million, and by the end of Thursday, it will have earned more than $1.1 billion, making it the second biggest hit of 2022, after ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
With the other movies in James Cameron’s sci-fi franchise all at different stages of production, the future of the ‘Avatar’ universe seems assured, at least for the next decade or so.
Which means it must be time for the rumored titles of the movies, which surfaced way back in 2019 during the ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ (which Cameron co-wrote and produced) press tour.
Given the developments in ‘The Way of Water’, including that the Earth is worse off even than when it was portrayed in the 2009 original movie and revelations about teenage character Kiri’s (Sigourney Weaver) connections to mystical, powerful tree Eywa, it’s perhaps telling that ‘Seed Bearer’ and the tree’s name itself feature in potential future titles. The Tulkun, meanwhile, are the whale-like creatures from ‘The Way of Water’.
Sigourney Weaver plays Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage Na’vi daughter In ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’ Photo courtesy of Empire Magazine.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the names change completely or shift slightly closer to each movie’s release. Whether it ends up titled ‘The Seed Bearer’ or something else, the third Avatar movie will be in theaters on December 20th, 2024.
Further forward we’ve learned a tiny nugget about the fifth film from producer Jon Landau. “I wasn’t going to talk about it, but I’ve now subsequently heard that Jim has talked about it a little bit,” Landau told IGN. In movie five there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth.”
It’s worth a mention that in the same interview, Landau shot down the other titles. “We have decided on titles, but I would not go by those other three titles that were out there,” he said. “You know, if you roll the dice one in six times, you’ll pick the right number.”
To turn attention back for a moment to where we currently stand, ‘The Way of Water’, and co-writer/director Cameron has been talking about what didn’t make the final cut in the latest film. Turns out it was some of the violence in the movie.
“I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action,” Cameron told Esquire Middle East. “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”
It is certainly a surprising sentiment coming from a man whose movie characters have mown down many in their time, but he has certainly switch perspective in the intervening years. “I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of ‘Terminator’ movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.” Hasta la vista, weapons.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.
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(L to R) Edward Furlong as John Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in director James Cameron’s ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day.’
James Cameron is going to be spending most of his future filmmaking time on Pandora, or at least virtually, making the various sequels to ‘Avatar’ and its new follow-up, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, which has recently hit theaters.
But he still has his mind on other franchises that he’s launched or helped along in the years past, including ‘Alita: Battle Angel’. And, if anyone else really wants to touch the subject after the abject failure of ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’, another movie set in the world of Skynet and dangerous technology.
“If I were to do another ‘Terminator’ film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy,” Cameron told the hosts.
And he’s also recently been candid about the fate––pun intended––of ‘Dark Fate’, admitting that it had its own issues.
Linda Hamilton in ‘Terminator: Dark Fate.’
The movie, directed by ‘Deadpool’s Tim Miller and for which Cameron helped crank out the story and worked as producer, was not a big success at the box office, though the filmmaker seems happy that it got made at all.
“I think, I’m actually reasonably happy with the film. Tim and I had our battles and we’ve both spoken about that, but the crazy thing is we’re still pals. Which is weird. I liked him before the movie, didn’t like him very much during the movie, and I like him now, and I think he feels the same way,” Cameron told Deadline.
And he’s also open as to why it didn’t work completely. “I think the problem, and I’m going to wear this one, is that I refused to do it without Arnold. Tim didn’t want Arnold, but I said, “Look, I don’t want that. Arnold and I have been friends for 40 years, and I could hear it, and it would go like this: ‘Jim, I can’t believe you’re making a Terminator movie without me.’ ” Cameron laughs. “It just didn’t mean that much to me to do it, but I said, ‘If you guys could see your way clear to bringing Arnold back and then, you know, I’d be happy to be involved.’ ”
But it snowballed from there, according to Cameron… “And then Tim wanted Linda (Hamilton). I think what happened is I think the movie could have survived having Linda in it, I think it could have survived having Arnold in it, but when you put Linda and Arnold in it and then, you know, she’s 60-something, he’s 70-something, all of a sudden it wasn’t your ‘Terminator’ movie, it wasn’t even your dad’s ‘Terminator’ movie, it was your granddad’s ‘Terminator’ movie,” he admits. “And we didn’t see that. We loved it, we thought it was cool, you know, that we were making this sort of direct sequel to a movie that came out in 1991. And young moviegoing audiences weren’t born. They wouldn’t even have been born for another 10 years.”
Director James Cameron for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, meanwhile, is doing a little bit better at the box office, though perhaps not with an opening (here in the States at least) as big as it might have been––or that it needs to really earn its expansive budget back.
‘The Way of Water’ opened with $134 million after its first weekend, certainly impressive (in an era of fewer movies seeing big numbers), but below Disney’s expectations. And below Cameron’s own real hopes. The director himself had said before its launch that the movie would “have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” to break even, and this is certainly not that.
Still, as has been said many times before, no one should count out James Cameron. The movie has still enjoyed the sixth best opening ever for December, the month’s best non-MCU and non- ‘Star Wars’ opening, was 74% ahead of the first ‘Avatar’ ($77 million) and 5.5% ahead of this year’s own box office champ, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ ($127 million).
Internationally the film opened to $301 million, bringing the global weekend total to $435 million. It’s the second biggest global start of the year, right at the tail of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ $442 million global bow.
And it has been swamping cinema takings in places such as the UK, where it debuted at No. 1 with a gargantuan £11.1 million ($13.5 million). In fairness, no other studio dared open a big release against it, and the film faces little major competition in the coming couple of weeks, so it could well hold on and keep earning big bucks, especially if good word of mouth works in its favor.
Reviews for the movie across the spectrum from outright pans to raves, somewhat in keeping with the original movie, which, let’s not forget, went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, until it was unseated by ‘Avengers: Endgame’, and managed to reclaim the title thanks to re-releases.
Cameron’s latest effectively has the holiday period to itself, at least in terms of major, all-audience releases, so there’s plenty of opportunity ahead for it to scoop up cash like a Pandoran Nalutsa glides through the ocean, hovering up plants and small animals.
With big spectacle and a desire for audiences to see its distinctive, technologically advanced visuals in theaters, expect ‘The Way of Water’ to stay afloat for a while yet. And even if it doesn’t live up to the 2009 movie’s Biggest Movie Ever, it’s far from a flop. Cameron has said he’d let market forces decide if the ‘Avatar’ universe would continue; the fact that he’s still at work on a third (and the others) suggests that his latest effort is being rewarded.
Whatever it ends up titled, the third ‘Avatar’ outing is scheduled for release on December 20th, 2024.
Opening in select theaters and On Demand December 16th is the new horror movie ‘Lullaby,’ which was directed by John R. Leonetti (‘Annabelle’).
The film stars Oona Chaplin as Rachel, a new mother who discovers a lullaby in an ancient book and regards the song as a blessing. But her world transforms into a nightmare when the lullaby brings forth the ancient demon Lilith (Kira Guloien). Ramon Rodriguez (‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’) also stars as Rachel’s husband, John.
Actress Oona Chaplin was born into acting royalty as she is the daughter of actress Geraldine Chaplin, granddaughter of legendary filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, and the great-granddaughter of playwright Eugene O’Neil.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Oona Chaplin about her work on ‘Lullaby,’ how she got involved in the project, her character, and the legend of Lilith, as well as working with Ramon Rodriguez, director John R. Leonetti, and a baby that won’t cry.
Oona Chaplin stars in director John R. Leonetti’s ‘Lullaby.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Chaplin and director John R. Leonetti.
Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project and what was your first reaction to the screenplay?
Oona Chaplin: Well, John Leonetti actually reached out to me, which I found extremely flattering and wonderful. We met up in Toronto and talked about the script. Then I think the reason that it appealed to me was a number of things, but the main thing was this mother’s love, and the lengths to which a mother will go to take care of her baby.
That journey is really beautiful, especially with this person who is coming from a very successful career. She knows what to do, she’s got everything under control, and then she completely loses control because she invites life into this world and then there’s no stopping the baby from crying. So, it’s like this person that’s got everything all set suddenly being challenged with the most natural process in the world that she can’t handle and then that gets taken away from her. It was an interesting piece.
MF: Every new parent fears for the safety of their child, can you talk about how being a new mother affects Rachel and your approach to playing her?
OC: I have never had the experience and I hope to God that I never needed to deal with it, but I imagine that losing a child is the most horrible thing that can happen to a person. It takes a lot to recover from it. But I think the fact that the child isn’t lost, that it is just taken somewhere else is easier, I think.
Oona Chaplin stars in director John R. Leonetti’s ‘Lullaby.’
MF: Your character spends most of the film either exhausted or in complete fear. What was the mood on set and was it difficult to keep those emotions going while you were shooting?
OC: It’s very tiring and it’s also really fun. It’s only fun because of the people really. The people make it fun. I was blessed with the most beautiful group of people to make this film. It was just so chipper in between the takes, even though the takes were very horrible, and we were just finding moments to laugh with one another in between the horrible horror moments. So, that makes it easier.
But it was very, very exhausting. My nervous system was completely shot. I think that’s one of the great gifts that John gives, is he’s not relying on CGI. So, he wants everything to happen right there. So, that for me was like, let’s do this, because it really stretches your imagination and it stretches your emotional resilience.
MF: Can you talk about Rachel and John’s marriage, and what it was like working with Ramon Rodriguez?
OC: Ramon and I clicked instantly. It was on Zoom and it was more like we spoke about relationships and in that conversation, within the first two minutes, I just thought, we think about things in a really similar way. We’re going to get along just great. This is going to be really easy. We can totally go. So, that made things very pleasant.
Then I feel like the trust, it’s very difficult to trust other people when you don’t trust yourself. I think that in fact it’s impossible. I think that what happens is that Rachel finds herself not trusting herself, and she’s not used to that. So, therefore in that place, she can’t trust John. She can’t trust anything.
So, until she finds that trust within herself again, and it happens in the film, then she’s working with John and they’re in tandem again. I don’t know if the writers did that on purpose, but it was a really astute analysis of relationship. Because it’s what it’s like. If you don’t trust yourself, there’s no way you’re going to trust anyone else.
(L to R) Ramon Rodriguez and Oona Chaplin star in director John R. Leonetti’s ‘Lullaby.’
MF: Can you talk about the challenges of acting opposite a baby?
OC: It was challenging because the babies were so well behaved and they were having the time of their life, and the baby’s are supposed to be crying the whole time in the film. They wouldn’t cry! They were just smiling, super chill and fascinated by the camera and playing with my face. They were so adorable. It was like, how am I going to make this baby cry?
So, I’m trying to hide his head away from the camera. The parents were there. They were so sweet. The parents, they were such a beautiful family and we were so blessed to have gotten to be with them in that time. But yeah, the babies were just having the time of their lives.
MF: Lilith is based on an actual character from the Talmud, can you talk about how she is depicted in the film?
OC: I think that it’s really handy that she has that horrible hag doing her dirty work, because they make a really good duo. Then Lilith, for me, for the movie as the Boogeyman, it was just great because she’s super beautiful, but really spooky, mesmerizing and enchanting. But then if you look at the real Lilith myth, I feel like they didn’t quite do her justice. It’s like we get to explain in the movie, there’s a lot that happened to this woman.
MF: Finally, what was your experience like working with director John R. Leonetti?
OC: Working with John was great. He’s extremely nice and that was very confusing to me because he makes such scary films. I was a little bit nervous because he’s created so much horror, and then he’s so lovely. As I said, I really admire his conviction of making things that are right there on the set without having to lean too heavily on fancy computer stuff.
Kira Guloien stars as Lilith in director John R. Leonetti’s ‘Lullaby.’
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Once again written and directed by groundbreaking filmmaker James Cameron, the new film picks up more than a decade after the original and sees Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family escaping from the return of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and looking for refuge with the reef people clan of Metkayina, a water-dwelling species on Pandora.
In addition to Worthington and Lang, the film also welcomes back Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, CCH Pounder as Mo’at, and Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, as well as Sigourney Weaver as new character Kiri, who is the daughter of Dr. Grace Augustine’s avatar.
Joining the cast are Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, Jermaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, Cliff Curtis as Tonowari the leader of the Metkayina, and reuniting with Cameron for the first time since ‘Titanic,’ Kate Winslet as Tonowari’s wife, Ronal.
Also joining the cast for the sequel are Jamie Flatters and Britain Dalton as Jake and Neytiri’s sons, Neteyam and Lo’ak, respectively. Trinity Bliss plays Jake and Neytiri’s daughter Tuk, while Bailey Bass and Filip Geljo play Tonowari and Ronal’s children, Reya and Aonung, respectively. Finally, Jack Champion joins the cast as Spider, the long lost son of Miles Quaritch.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of traveling to London to sit down in-person with Oscar-winning director James Cameron and Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet to talk about the work on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
The filmmaker discussed the sequel, the challenges of making it, how the technology has changed since the original, and his plans for more sequels, while Winslet talked about reuniting with Cameron, joining the sequel, and learning to hold her breathe.
Kate Winslet stars in director James Cameron’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Cameron, Winslet, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jamie Flatters, and Bailey Bass.
MF: To begin with, Kate, what was it like for you to reunite with James Cameron for the first time since ‘Titanic’ on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water?’
Kate Winslet: Yeah, very long time ago. Yeah, it’s 26 years ago. It was amazing and absolutely incredible. The script was always going to be phenomenal because it’s ‘Avatar.’ Again, for Jim, it’s a world he created. He writes for women in a way that is extraordinary.
He always creates strong, not just female characters, but female leaders, women who are powerful mothers who lead with integrity. So, I just appreciated being asked. I was excited to jump in. I absolutely loved every minute of it. It was a wonderful experience.
MF: Director James Cameron has said that he knew he wanted to do a sequel to ‘Avatar’ pretty quickly after finishing the original. When did he ask you to be involved in the sequel?
KW: It was I guess quite a long time. He first mentioned something to me almost in passing back in 2014 or 2015. I guess it was around that time. I had seen him for an event in LA and he said, “Oh, we have to get you big and blue sometime.” I said, “Oh yeah, I’d love that.” The seed was sown.
Then in late 2017 was when he actually called and said, “I really do want to send you this script.” He described Ronal to me as being a female warrior goddess, and leader of a clan. I just thought, my God, if it really is that, this could be extraordinary.
I read the script and loved it, and was particularly taken by not only the elements of family and motherhood, but also this added physical challenge of learning how to free dive and breath hold, which I was just so excited by and not remotely daunted by. I had no fear around the idea of any of that. I just loved learning something new in my 40s.
It’s so funny, when you are young, you think you’ve learned all of the new things that you could learn, and as an adult, we close our minds off to the possibility of learning something new. So, to be in a situation that provided this wonderful opportunity for me was just amazing.
MF: I understand that you broke a record on set because you were able to hold your breath for seven minutes and 12 seconds, is that correct?
KW: Seven minutes and 14 seconds. You have to oxygenate your body, and there’s a whole breathing sequence that you do, and it’s quite a considerable process. It’s not to be tried at home and you cannot do it by yourself. Actually, that’s a very important safety thing.
You really mustn’t do it alone because what happens is when people surface from having held their breath, there’s a particular breathing sequence that you need to do the minute you hit the surface. If you don’t do that, you could be in danger of blacking out, and that’s when people run into trouble. That was the thing I learned, first of all, which we all did, was the safety. Once you know what you’re doing, it certainly makes things a lot easier.
I just loved the whole process. It was amazing. Yeah, seven minutes, 14 seconds. I was incredibly proud of myself and really determined that I was going to do it, I was going to do a big breath hold that day. I had my heart set on it. I even said to my husband, “Don’t come to work today to watch because I just don’t want the pressure of you being there.”
But actually, he was there. He snuck in and he actually videoed the last part of my breath hold. We got it on camera, me surfacing and going, “Am I dead? What happened?” Straight away, I’m like, “How long was that?” It’s pretty cool!
Director James Cameron for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
Moviefone: Mr. Cameron, can you talk about the performance capture suits you used for this film, and have they changed at all from the ones you used on the original?
James Cameron: The suits were the same. We improved the head rigs a bit. I mean, we improved everything. It was all a prototype when we did it on ‘Avatar.’ We didn’t know it was going to work and then we found out it worked pretty well, so then we improved it all. But the process is the same. It’s just there’s no real camera, there’s no set. It’s just a pure interaction between the actors. They love it and I love it.
I don’t have to get distracted by the lighting and the camera work, and the Dolly track and the steady cam stuff. I can just work directly with the actors. I had returning cast, obviously, Sigourney, Sam and Zoe, but I also had this whole new cast with these kids, these newcomers. It was just a joy to go to work every day. Not a joy necessarily always during the day when you’re solving problems and that sort of thing. But we really enjoyed it.
MF: The look of the sequel is incredible and is even more spectacular than the original. Looking forward to ‘Avatar 3,’ ‘Avatar 4,’ and even possibly ‘Avatar 5,’ with technology constantly improving, what do you expect those film’s will look like in the future?
JC: I think over time we’ll shift from the novelty value of being in the world. We can assume that. You walk in, you sit down, you can assume it’ll be immersive because that’s our baseline. It’s really about, how much do I care about these characters, and where’s this story taking me? Where’s this journey taking me?
I mean, we’re always going to try to bring in wonders, awesome moments, amazing vistas and all that sort of thing, but we’re also shifting our focus to the story of the characters and the emotion, which I think is healthy. Because it shouldn’t just be about pretty pictures. The immersive stuff, we know how to do that so they’ll all be like that.
MF: Were you already planning for this sequel when you made the original?
JC: Not really. No. The only thing was that when the studio wanted to take out the scene where Grace (Sigourney Weaver) dies and I said, “You can’t take that out. We need that scene. It’s very important. It’s very important for the sequel.” I hadn’t even written the story yet, but I knew that there was a connection there.
They wanted to take it out and ultimately it just turned into a big headbutting contest, and I won. So, it’s in (the original), therefore we have this movie, at least the Kiri character, comes out of that part of the story.
MF: Are there scenes in ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ that you kept in because you needed them for the next three installments?
JC: Oh yeah. Like I said, it’s all written out so we know exactly.
MF: Finally, have you already shot everything you need for ‘Avatar 3?’
JC: ‘Avatar 3’s done. I mean, the movie’s not done, but the capture, all the work with the actors is done. So, dramatically it’s all set in stone. We have to go through the process of making it look real and immersive, and all that sort of thing. That’ll take a couple years.
Then part of ‘Avatar 4’ is not done, but the script is done, and part of ‘Avatar 4’ has been shot. Because we had to finish with these kids because they’re not going to be kids. In fact, they’re not kids now.
Jack’s 6 ft 8″ or whatever. He was 12 when I cast him. Trinity Bliss, she’s such a sweet girl. She was seven when I cast her, and she’s now 13 and about two feet taller. So, we had to bottle that lightning while we had it through the first part of movie 4. And then there’s a big time jump, and then we see all the characters six years later.
So, then everybody will be the right age for the continuation of the story. I didn’t want to get caught in that ‘Stranger Things’ thing where they’re still in high school but they look 25. I like ‘Stranger Things,’ don’t get me wrong. It’s fine and I go with it that they’re still teenagers.
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ opens in theaters on December 16th. Photo courtesy of the movie’s Twitter account.
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The four forthcoming “Avatar” sequels may have names.
James Cameron is currently in production on the follow-ups to his 2009 blockbuster. Details about the sequels have remained closely guarded, but BBC News reports it has seen documentation outlining the four planned titles.
These titles have not been confirmed by Cameron or 20th Century Fox, so take them with a (huge) grain of salt.
They are:
Avatar 2: The Way of Water
Avatar 3: The Seed Bearer
Avatar 4: The Tulkun Rider
Avatar 5: The Quest for Eywa
Whether these are the true titles, or even working titles, it’s probable they’ll undergo some revisions before hitting theaters. “Avatar 2” won’t be released until 2020 and “Avatar 5” is still far off in the future of 2025.
The first title “The Way of Water” does make sense, as Cameron as previously said the movie will introduce the Na’vi reef people of Metkayina. Cilff Curtis has been cast as their leader and Kate Winslet will be a member of the clan.
And the “Avatar 5” title references Eywa, the deity worshipped by the Na’vi.
“Avatar 2” is slated for release December 18, 2020; “Avatar 3” on December 17, 2021; “Avatar 4” on December 20, 2024; and “Avatar 5″on December 19, 2025.
We still have more than two years before the first of four planned “Avatar” sequels is set to hit theaters, but according to star Sigourney Weaver, half of those films have finished shooting. And what little the actress can reveal about them so far should certainly pique fans’ interest.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Weaver chatted about the status of the follow-ups, which are in the midst of an ambitious — and unprecedented — back-to-back-to-back-to-back shooting schedule, led by writer-director James Cameron. The actress told THR that she “just finished shooting two and three,” referring to “Avatar 2” and “Avatar 3” (whose names we assume will change as their release dates approach), and is now working on “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5.”
Cameron has already stated that the production will be using the most revolutionary filmmaking technology currently available, and that will be implemented in part while shooting underwater scenes. According to Weaver, she “learned how to free dive” for the films, and “did many scenes underwater which was challenging and kind of cool.”
That setting is a key piece of the “Avatar” sequels’ puzzle, the actress told THR, and “the water becomes another world.” All told, each film is its own story, but the four features unite to become “a big saga.”
“They’re amazing,” Weaver gushed to THR, echoing previous comments she made about the long-awaited follow-ups to the 2009 original. “There’s a message to not sacrifice everything for greed and conquest. It will take all four movies to really make that message loud and clear for the whole world.”
It certainly sounds like “Avatars 2-5” will follow in the first film’s footsteps in that regard. Now, the only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not they meet their current release dates.
As it stands, “Avatar 2″is set to premiere on December 18, 2020, followed by “Avatar 3” on December 17, 2021, “Avatar 4” on December 20, 2024, and “Avatar 5” on December 19, 2025.
The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And 
