The upcoming American science fiction film, The Avatar 2 is produced by 20th Century Studios. And Avatar 2 directed by James Cameron. As usual James Cameron’s style of filmmaking, the easy way out is never an option and It already happened on Avatar 2. As an example, While other directors would have been content to perform their actors on wires in front of a greenscreen to depict underwater sequences, James Cameron would make special equipment built to film the scenes underwater for real. So the actors may expect such experience to level up as well, and it’s confirmed by Sigourney Weaver, the actress in Avatar 2, who is set to return in the sequel films of James Cameron’s franchise during an interview with The New York Times.
Avatar 2 is the second film in the Avatar franchise that started from Avatar 1 released in 2009. Cameron, Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno took a part in the writing process of all sequels before being attributed to separate scripts, and Josh Friedman originally announced as a co-writer. The main characters in Avatar 2 are represented by Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. All are reprising their roles from the Avatar original film except with Sigourney Weaver who returns in a different role in Avatar 2. A few new members joined the Avatar 2 cast include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, CJ Jones, and Vin Diesel.
Cameron, announced in 2010 following the widespread success of the first film, Avatar 2 planning to release in 2014. However, significant delays allowed the crew more time to work on the writing, pre-production, and visual effects due to the later addition of three more sequels, and the necessity to develop new technology in order to film performance capture scenes underwater as a new experience to the Avatar team never accomplished before. The preliminary shooting of Avatar 2 started in Manhattan Beach, California on August 15, 2017, and through that, Avatar 2 has been subject to an 8-year delay to its theatrical release, and Now It is currently planned for a release on December 16, 2022, over three years of shooting. And also the team planning to start the shooting for Avatar 3 in New Zealand followed by principal photography simultaneously.
Avatar 2 – Script Writing
James Cameron stated that the sequels were being written as “separate stories that have an overall arc inclusive of the Avatar first film” In 2012, with having a clear conclusion of the Avatar 2. Josh Friedman was the Screenwriter of Avatar’s first movie, And Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were announced as Screenwriters for Avatar 2 (second sequel). Cameron expected to finish all three scripts within six weeks by targeting April 2014, But production was still Ongoing from 2017 to releases in 2022.
Experience in Avatar 2
A large part of her prep for Avatar 2, shooting in deep-sea diving in Key West, Florida, and in Hawaii. Especially to Sigourney Weaver as she would represent manta rays gliding over her. And for the other actors to hold their breath for all the underwater sequences. Special training provided by military divers to Weaver and other actors. So that they could hold breath, after a big gulp of supplemental oxygen, for more than six minutes and that’s manageable for shooting. Anyway, holding breath is not enough for the production, since Weaver and the other actors also had to learn to keep their mouths or eyes from squinting or clamping underwater. Considerable weights were put on them to ensure they would not suddenly rise to the top of the gigantic water tank when scenes were filmed in. Meanwhile, the professional divers were on hand to take their back to the surface for air at the brief, regular intervals.
Before Avatar 2, the last time an actor prepared so much for underwater filming was Tom Cruise for one of his Mission Impossible movies by holding his breath for six minutes. Anyway in the MIP movie, Cruise was behaving to look like he was having trouble holding his breath and adding to the tension of the scene. But Luckily for Avatar 2, the actors had to act like they were completely comfortable staying underwater for several minutes at a time, which must have been even more difficult.
