We’re still well over two years away from the sequel to James Cameron’s massive hit “Avatar” comes to theaters. But that doesn’t mean that Cameron and Co. aren’t busy attempting to outdo the decade-old film, as we speak. In fact, according to one of the producers, “Avatar 2” is going to be bigger, and much more complex, than the previous film.
Speaking at CinemaCon (via Yahoo), Jon Landau spoke about what makes “Avatar 2” more epic than the previous record-breaking film. First off, apparently, there’s going to be a lot more races of aliens.
“On the first ‘Avatar’ film, we met one clan of Na’vi, so a very isolated part of Pandora,” he explained. “We had an opportunity with science fiction to be a metaphor for the world in which we live. So we meet diverse clans in the [future] movie[s], we see a whole wide range of environments, and really create an immersive experience, especially when we go under the water.”
It’s that under the water aspect that really has people excited about the film. Cameron, ever the innovator, isn’t happy with just recreating the first film, with slightly better special effects. No, he always has to outdo himself. You think motion-capture is difficult? Well, Cameron is bringing you motion-capture…underwater!
“We’re performance capturing underwater in a giant tank, with a wave maker,” Landau said. “I don’t think anyone’s done that before.”
Part of me feels excited to see what underwater motion-capture will look like, but the other part of me feels horrible for the actors that have to subject themselves to those working conditions. Sure, they’re still highly paid pretenders, but wearing a mo-cap suit in a huge tank of water, while you try to act, is a little more difficult than your typical action film.
One of the new actors to the franchise, Kate Winslet (from Cameron’s other record-breaker, “Titanic”), is apparently doing just fine with those treacherous working conditions. “Kate was able to hold her breath for more than three minutes underwater, capturing performance,” said Landau. “She just made this look so easy, she came in and nailed the Na’vi language, and all of that.”
As mentioned above, we will have to wait until December 2020 to see if all this hard work paid off. That’s when the first of four “Avatar” sequels hits theaters.