James Cameron Called Sigourney Weaver Insecure While Making Avatar 2
From Aliens to the highest-grossing movie in history, Avatar, director James Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver are a true force. Behind the camera, Cameron is one of the most innovative and influential directors in the world, and Weaver has played some of his most powerful and iconic protagonists. However, in a recent issue of D23 (via The Direct), the actress revealed that the director called her out as “insecure” during the production of Avatar: The Way of Water for being unsure of how her performance as a teen alien would be received.
It seems that playing a character that is 50 years younger than herself was a challenge Sigourney Weaver was not sure she was ready for. The actress says she was in “agony’ taking on the role of Kira, as she was unsure of how her presentation of the character 50 years younger than herself (not to mention another species) would work. Weaver went on to say that she had no idea how she was coming across in her scenes and that she couldn’t keep track. In a notable exchange with her director, Weaver revealed how Cameron got her on track and to stop being so “insecure.”
One day on set after not getting feedback from James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver recounted how she complained to her director about his lack of communication about her performance. “You have to stop being so insecure,” Cameron reportedly said. According to the actress “[T]hat shut me up. I heard him loud and clear.” Weaver went on to say, noting that despite the serious tone, she trusts Cameron and believes that he listens to his actors and their concerns.
It has been almost 15 years since Avatar was released and James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver are both back for the much-anticipated sequel, Avatar 2: The Way of Water. Some may recall that in the first Avatar movie, Weaver’s character was killed, but Cameron was not going to let a little thing like death stop him from casting his preferred actors in the sequel.
In The Way of Water, Sigourney Weaver is playing a new character, a 14-year-old named Kira, the adopted daughter of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). When convincing her to take the role, James Cameron jested that the 72-year-old Sigourney Weaver can accurately portray a teenager because she is so “immature.” At the very least, it seems that Cameron is very blunt with his actors.
Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to be released on December 16, 2022. Reportedly, the director already has at least one more sequel fully planned (and partially filmed) and many more sequels in the development stage. According to Cameron, whether they ever happen will greatly depend on the public reception of this next movie (plus the box office numbers). We do not yet know whether James Cameron will be reunited with Sigourney Weaver in any future films, though it is clear that the death of characters is no obstacle for him.
