The premiere of Avatar: The Sense of Water is just around the corner. James Cameron’s mammoth project that hopes to burst the box office this Christmas arrives in movie theaters on Friday and there are several actors who have already spoken about what this sequel will mean.
It’s funny, because Neytiri and I have had parallel lives. There’s a level of boldness and rebellion that I’ve always had that’s very similar to what she had. That brought us together a lot. But falling in love challenges you to see something you’ve never seen before, and that’s been her dilemma. You have to surrender to it, and then deal with the fruits of that love. That creates a challenge for Neytiri, because she has forced him to grow. She has forced him to love something that she had been taught to hate. And that has been very hard for her. Fear has also appeared. In my personal life, when I became a mother, fear entered my world. The fear of losing something that one loves very much. You spend a lot of time creating what-if scenarios that are simply unimaginable. When I read the second script, all of that was there. That was Neytiri in this second part, although I didn’t see it then, because my job was not to see but to become her.
James gave me a script which was “Avatar 1.5” which was amazing and detailed and told us what had happened all the time between the first and second movies. That story talked about them as warriors, because of the battles that had taken place between the clans and that kind of thing. But in this film the idea was to explore family dynamics, which was the natural extension of that love story. But that other script helped us to understand what had happened in the middle. I think any other director would have stuck with that story, but not James.
We first talked about my character in 2010, when they had an idea, that of a girl who is more comfortable in the woods with the creatures, the flora and fauna, and who had a connection to Grace. James wanted to create a complex character, who had wonderful things, but also had his flaws. I loved having the chance to play someone who I consider to be a real teenager but who also has other facets that she is discovering. I was excited about the proposal, and also terrified. Luckily I had a lot of time to prepare, so I went to high school classes to listen to the pitch of the voices, because there is such a wide range in a teenager between 12 and 15. Once I did my preparation, I felt that I could let Kiri out, whoever she was, combining her with who I was at 14. It’s just that back then everything was very chaotic for me, because I was already this tall when I was 11 years old. So I had a lot to work with and when I got on set I left my shell and became a spoiled brat.
It was very inspiring for me to come back like this, and I felt very honored to be able to deepen and expand the vision that James had for my character. In the first movie he is very colorful, he has his personality and many of his qualities. But he essentially moves like a shark that swims aimlessly. But in this version, it is a great irony that Quaritch returns as precisely what he had tried to destroy, having to adapt to this new reality. It was an absolute pleasure for me to continue working with this character, to find the depth of him and maybe some of the humanity in him.
Having worked with James before, I knew this experience was going to be an absolute first rate one. Because with him everything goes through precision. He is meticulous. Also, what attracted me the most to the project are the characters he has created. James has always written women who are not only strong, but who are leaders. And that they guide with their hearts, with integrity, they are faithful to their truth and they own a physical power that is admirable. That’s why I felt very honored that he invited me to participate, because I knew that he saw certain things in me. Obviously, I was willing to show him everything he imagined for this character. And of course, he didn’t expect less from me. When I joined the team, he was welcomed into this world by those who created him and by Sam and Zoe, who gave him the pulse. Because it is one thing to write the script and another thing to make it come to life and for real blood to flow through those veins. It was extraordinary to be a part of it, because it’s not just an interpretation. It is not something that occurs to them on the day of filming. It is a universe, and it is palpable. It is an empty space but it is loaded with truths, dynamics and pulses that these people have built. They were the ones who did it and shared it with me, so it was honestly very special for me to be able to be a part of the process.
