Sigourney Weaver Explains Why Working with James Cameron on AVATAR Is a Dream Job for Actors
Sigourney Weaver has spent decades working with some of the biggest filmmakers in Hollywood, but her creative partnership with James Cameron continues to be something special.
As the Avatar saga pushes forward with Avatar: Fire and Ash, Weaver says stepping back into Pandora under Cameron’s direction feels less like work and more like creative freedom at its highest level.
Weaver first entered the world of Avatar as Dr. Grace Augustine, the brilliant scientist whose Avatar body would later give rise to one of the franchise’s most intriguing characters.
That character is Kiri, a Na’vi teenager unlike anyone else on Pandora. Born from Grace’s Avatar and raised by Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña’s Neytiri, Kiri has grown up alongside their children while quietly standing apart. There’s something different about her, something deeply tied to Pandora.
After debuting as Kiri in Avatar: The Way of Water, Weaver returns once again in Avatar: Fire and Ash, where the story digs further into Kiri’s strange, spiritual connection to Eywa. According to Weaver, that exploration doesn’t follow a straight or predictable path.
“Well, it's interesting because we're also not necessarily working in continuity,” Weaver explains. “So Kiri, who I think has these gifts, I guess you'd call them: an ability to communicate with other species and to somehow create miracles.
“And she's just – as far as she's concerned – a kid. A kid [who] doesn't know who her father is, etcetera. And in this [film], because all hell breaks loose, she has to step up, and she kind of has to go, 'All right, I'll never understand it, but I've just got to do what I have to do, and somehow I'm capable of doing [this].'”
That inner conflict becomes a driving force for Kiri as the story unfolds, and Weaver says it’s rewarding to watch the character evolve in real time.
“And I think it's amazing to see that power take hold of her and change her, and kind of educate her, and you see that growing throughout the film.
“And so it's almost like, at this point as an actor, when I walk into the Volume where we do this work, I know the character, she's in me, but I have to kind of get out of her way, because I have no idea at this point.
“I do a lot of preparation ahead of time, but when I walk into the Volume, I sort of go, 'Okay, Kiri, take it away,' because she's so much a creature, an animal, as well as a human girl, that that part of her I just leave to [her]. I think your mind is saying, 'You're not this,' and my instrument is saying, 'Let's go!'”
That freedom to discover a character moment by moment comes directly from Cameron’s hands-on directing style. Weaver and Cameron go back to Aliens in 1986, and their creative shorthand has only deepened with time.
“I think he basically said, 'I hope you can do this,'” Weaver says with a laugh about returning as Kiri in Fire and Ash. “Because we shot two and three together, and, of course, casting someone my age as someone 14, we joke about it, that I was this age emotionally, thank you very much! But I think he did see something in me that must have helped him create Kiri, and he just wanted me to get on with it.”
Rather than dictating every beat, Cameron prefers to stay close to the actors and let the scene reveal itself. Weaver says: “In fact, I don't really think he tells us where we're going. He wants to find out through us where the character is going, and that's why he's not in video village or anything.
“He is right there with us. And when we get to a scene, we are genuinely there to find out what the scene is about. And for Kiri, it's often, 'How does she make sense of what's happening now? How does she make sense of this world that doesn't make any sense to her?'
“And so, he kind of helps you get out of your way. He does everything possible to make sure you get to try everything you want to try. So, it's kind of like the perfect job for an actor. It's kind of a dream job.”
Audiences will soon see how that approach pays off as Kiri’s journey takes a major leap forward. Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives exclusively in theaters on December 19.