From where it all began to her latest performance as the fearless Na’vi warrior Ronal in Avatar: Fire and Ash, Kate Winslet and James Cameron have been making movie magic together for over 30 years, but her time on the Avatar sets featured more than one Titanic reunion.
The acting legend, who made her directorial debut with Goodbye June this year, captured international audiences’ attention in 1997 when she stepped into the Edwardian shoes of Rose. During that pivotal time, she met Deborah Lynn Scott, an Oscar-winning costume designer who would walk back into her life over 20 years later.
Designing the stunning ensembles for the science-fiction action adventure franchise, Deborah and Kate were reunited when the 50-year-old star signed up to play Ronal in Avatar: The Way of Water in 2017, when the project started filming.
On the red carpet for the London premiere of the third film at Waterloo’s BFI IMAX, HELLO! caught up with Deborah, who shared her experience working with Kate. She exclusively told us: “She’s a dream, the whole cast is amazing. We’ve worked together now on these movies for eight years or so, so we know each other pretty well.
“But [with] Kate, coming back and having that opportunity from years ago, working together on Titanic and being back together was just amazing. It was just like no time had passed; everyone always says that, but it was wonderful, and she’s absolutely stunning in the movie!”
A star-studded evening
Elsewhere, more members of the film’s famous cast descended on the iconic London venue and greeted fans as they posed for pictures. Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Jamie Flatters, David Thewlis, and Jemaine Clement banded together to promote the epic sci-fi picture while Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Michelle Yeoh and Kate were absent.
HELLO! spoke to New Zealand actor and comedian Jemaine, 51, about his time on set playing Dr Ian Garvin, a human marine biologist living on Pandora. He revealed: “The scale of this is huge and not many films in history are to this scale.
© Variety via Getty Images“I really like working with James [Cameron], but I like working with a lot of good directors. He’s always thinking of a new way to tell a story.”
When asked if he would like to see a fourth and fifth instalment of the franchise, he joked and said: “It depends on how this one does! I would love to do it again. I had such fun making two and three. I wasn’t in the first one, but I was glad to be a part of these two.”
The Men in Black 3 star also explained what it was in particular about Avatar that made him return to the set and want to be an ongoing part of the story: “I have fun every day. I got to do a big action sequence in this film, which I don’t usually get to do, so that was really fun.”
What is Avatar: Fire and Ash about?
The third film in the epic saga, Fire and Ash, signifies the end of this era for the story, with rumoured fourth and fifth instalments on their way to begin a new era.
Exploring darker themes and a more ominous, high-stakes atmosphere, this film sees the introduction of the Ash People to Pandora, a more aggressive, Na’vi tribe who live in volcanoes. They are led by the fierce Varang, played by Oona, who teams up with the reborn human antagonist, Colonel Miles Quaritch, played by Stephen Lang.
© Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesThe central conflict of the storyline splits three ways in this instalment and features a three-sided war between the humans and a fractured Na’vi. Alongside the conflict, the emotional strain within the Sully family, played by Sam and Zoe, is explored as they cope with the deep grief and loss following the death of their son Neteyam, played by Jamie, with this new story being narrated by their second son, Lo’ak.
Read the full article here
