Kate Winslet at the “Avatar: The Way of Water” premiere in London—REUTERS
It’s been about 25 years since Kate Winslet got the second of her seven nominations at the Oscars. That 1998 acting citation was for the British actress’ career-boosting portrayal of Rose Bukater opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster film “Titanic,” which won 11 of the 14 categories it was nominated in—including the coveted best picture plum.
Kate finally won her first Oscar 11 years later for her indelible performance in Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader.”
So Kate joining the cast of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time “Avatar,” is particularly significant because it reunites the gifted actress with her visionary director.
In the first of “Avatar’s” four sequels, which opens in the Philippines on Wednesday, the 47-year-old Kate is cast as Ronal.
As the water-dwelling Na’vi warrior, she reluctantly welcomes the family of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) to her community after they’re forced to flee to a far-off Metkayina to protect the Omatikaya tribe on the moon Pandora from the oppressive RDA (Resources Development Administration) forces, led by a recombinant iteration of Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
At the global press conference for “The Way of Water” last Tuesday, Kate was asked what her expectations were upon joining the “Avatar” team.
“With the film being helmed by Jim, I have to say that I expected nothing but the absolute best of everything,” Kate readily answered. “The movie has precision. It’s thought through, and it’s thorough and meticulous. But the thing that pulled me in above everything else were the characters that Jim has created.”
Writing for women
Like Sigourney Weaver, Kate noted how well the director writes women characters in his productions. She explained, “Jim has always written for women… They’re characters who aren’t just strong. They’re leaders who lead with their heart, with integrity. They stand in their truth, and they own their power. They have physical power… and that is admirable.
“It was just so flattering to be included in all that. I was happy that Jim asked me because everybody knows he doesn’t suffer fools (laughs). And I knew that he was asking me because he knew I was too damn foolish not to say, ‘Oh, you saw that in me? But guess what? I’m going to show you that I can do exactly that thing… and maybe that thing… and maybe that thing (laughs)!’ And of course he expected no less.
“So I was just thrilled to be asked. And when I got there, I was welcomed into this world that was created by these guys. What Zoe and Sam did the first time around was to create that heartbeat. You know, it’s one thing for Jim to write it, but it’s quite another to give it a life, a pulse and real blood in those veins!
“It was really, really extraordinary to be around that. It’s not a performance. It’s not things they came up with on the day. It is a universe… it is love. It’s something that is palpable. You feel it when you step into that space.
“It’s an empty space, but it is absolutely loaded with truths and dynamics and pulses that these guys built. They built and shared it with me. Honestly, it’s very special to have been part of it.”
Seated in front of Kate, James quipped, “Can I get a transcript of that (laughs)?”
Family dynamics
The 68-year-old filmmaker behind such screen classics as “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” “The Terminator,” “True Lies” and “Titanic” explained the idea that percolated in his mind when he conceptualized “The Way of Water” and the succeeding films in the franchise.
“It’s important for a sequel to honor what the audience loved about the experience the first time around,” he said. “But it’s just as important to get them off balance and do things they don’t expect. Here, there are a lot of surprises in terms of where the story goes… parts of it that we didn’t put in the trailers and TV spots [because] you kind of have to experience on your own as viewers.
“The sequel goes deeper in terms of the heart of it. I mean, the first film had a much simpler story, and the characters were also simpler. But I was inspired by the fact that both Sam and Zoe, as well as their characters, are parents now. And I’m also a parent of five.
“We wanted to get into the family dynamics and the responsibilities of having kids. We also wanted to explore what that’s like from the kids’ perspective.”
Jon Landau, who won an Oscar for coproducing “Titanic,” also explained the lure of returning to the “Avatar” set.
“Part of that excitement are the themes that Jim writes into his stories,” he mused. “These themes are what you leave the theater with. It has heart. Again, it has a message about the world we live in, not just about the environment. But it’s also about people and accepting them for their differences.
“In the movie, Jim wrote the line, ‘Oel ngati kameie,’ which means ‘I see you.’ We want people to know that they’re seen… and we want them to see others the same way.”
In our separate roundtable interview with Jon, we asked him what it was like to reunite with Kate more than two decades after he, James and the actress did “Titanic.” How has she evolved as an actress?
Jon recalled, “When we worked with Kate on ‘Titanic,’ she wasn’t even 21 years old yet. She went into that movie never having done anything of that scale, and she felt a lot of pressure on herself to deliver for something with that epic ambition.
“But post-‘Titanic,’ she’s gone on to an illustrious career, particularly in terms of the authenticity and diversity of the characters that she portrayed, not to mention the accolades that she got for them.
Giving 100%
“So when Kate came back to us, we were no longer working with someone who was 20 years old. We were working with a mature woman who had become a mother. Our stories in the ‘Avatar’ sequels are about family, and Kate embraced that sense of family with all her heart.
“Whenever Kate essays a role, she throws 100 percent of herself into that character. So, on the first day she showed up to work, she had already completed her training for free diving, because she needed to breathe underwater… and she could hold her breath for seven minutes!
“She came in knowing the Na’vi language, even the accent. She came in having studied the movement of the Na’vi people, and we saw all of that in that first moment of her on the set. And that is the reason why Kate Winslet is the incredible actress she is.” INQ