Walking Onto Avatar 2 Set Was a Real WTF Moment for Marc Maron & Kate Winslet
After making history together with Titanic, Kate Winslet is teaming up with filmmaker James Cameron once again for Avatar 2 and its sequels. In a recent episode of the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron in which Maron spoke to Winslet, the two reminisced about their time spent on the sets of Avatar 2. As it turns out, Maron had been in the running for a role in the films, and he remembered his feelings of befuddlement when he arrived on set for his audition.
“[James Cameron] had me come down there to audition for something, to look at me for something. I had to go down there to that city he built, the ‘Avatar’ city and it was the weirdest thing. I walk in and he was like, ‘We’ve got actors in here working all the time, flying around and stuff. So if you want to come into a set and we’ll just do it.’ I was like, ‘What the fuck is happening here?'”
Winslet agreed with Marc Maron over the feeling of disorientation that can accompany someone who encounters the sets of the Avatar films for the first time, although, according to the actress, once you get used to the strangeness, the environment that Cameron has created on set becomes highly conducive to an enriching collaborative experience.
“I lost track of how many [Avatar films James Cameron] is making at once. I did two at once, in tandem with him. All my work was in 2018. It’s an extraordinary experience. You go into this huge aircraft hanger and anything is possible. You want to fly today? You want to do some spear fighting underwater? Sure, we’ll do it. It was wonderful for me to be a part of such a well-oiled machine with such great artists and technicians… He’s got a lot more time to make than he ever had with ‘Titanic’. There’s a process he’s entered into, a rhythm, that’s really quite relaxed. He’s so intricately connected with that entire world because he created it, so there’s a confidence in him that breathes collaboration and conversation.”
Kate Winslet also touched briefly upon the last time that she and Cameron worked together on Titanic. The shooting experience of the film was famously difficult. But according to the actress, what came next was almost as bad, as she found herself in the glare of the media, which led to his face and figure being mercilessly analyzed and criticized in a bullying manner by international gossip outlets.
“I went into self-protective mode right away [after Titanic came out]. It was like night and day from one day to the next. I was subject to a lot of personal physical scrutiny, I was criticized a lot and the British press were quite unkind to me. I felt bullied if I’m honest. I remember thinking, ‘this is horrible and I hope it passes’ – it did definitely pass but it made me realize that, if that’s what being famous was, I was not ready to be famous, definitely not.”
Written and directed by James Cameron, Avatar 2 wrapped last fall with stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco, Kate Winslet, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, and David Thewlis. The film arrives in theaters on December 16, 2022. This news comes comes from WTF Podcast.
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