After thirteen years, the Na’vi are finally returning to theaters with the heavily-hyped sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. Not only does the film re-team director James Cameron with the cast from the original film, but he’s reunited for the first time with Titanic star Kate Winslet, who’s riding high from her outstanding cheesesteak-eating detective role in HBO’s Mare of Easttown.
While details about Winslet’s role have been kept mostly under wraps (except that she’ll be playing one of Pandora’s natives), Empire just dropped the first look photos of the actress as Ronal, the “deeply loyal” and “fearless leader” of the water-dwelling Metkayina tribe, according to Winslet.
You can check out the images below:
EXCLUSIVE IMAGE ALERT! 🌊
Kate Winslet’s ‘deeply loyal and fearless leader’ #Avatar: The Way Of Water character Ronal is revealed.
READ MORE: https://t.co/ZfvLA7ywH9 pic.twitter.com/tJBJotq4GK
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 30, 2022
In preparation for the role, Winslet and the cast had to endure intense underwater training. In the process, Winslet unknowingly broke a record that had been previously set by Tom Cruise, which is no easy feat considering Cruise’s whole thing is pushing himself as close to death as humanly possible. Not only that, but Winslet smoked him.
Up until her filming on the Avatar sequel, Cruise had set the record for an actor holding their breath by going six minutes for a scene in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Winslet beat him by a full minute and change.
“It’s so funny because I don’t really read reviews or media things. I’m not on Instagram, like I’m just completely disconnected from that part of my life,” Winslet told Entertainment Tonight after learning of the record. “So all of this week and the week before, I’ve had people coming up to me at work saying, ‘Oh my God, like seven minutes and 14 seconds? Like, what?!’ And I’m going, ‘What? Hang on, wait a minute. How do you know that?'”
Of course, this means Winslet has to jump a motorcycle off a cliff in Avatar 3 now. The die has been cast.
Avatar: The Way of Water splashes into theaters on December 16, 2022.
(Via Empire)