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Kate Winslet Shows Off Submerged Acting Chops in Wild Look at ‘Avatar 2’ Underwater Shoot

Winslet held her breath for over seven minutes at a time to film "Avatar 2" underwater.
"Avatar 2"
"Avatar: The Way of Water"
Disney/20th Century Studios

How demanding is it to film a movie underwater? Just ask the cast of James Cameron‘s long-awaited and long-delayed “Avatar 2.” The film’s social media pages debuted a first look photo of Kate Winslet wearing weights around her waist in order to stay submerged on the bottom of a water tank while filming a scene from the “Avatar” sequel underwater. Winslet learned to hold her breath for over seven minutes in order to film underwater for as long as possible.

“Avatar 2” is set to reunite Winslet with her “Titanic” director Cameron. Details of Winslet’s character have remained under wraps, although the set photo below makes it appear that she will be playing some kind of underwater creature with giant wings. Winslet is one of the new faces to the “Avatar” franchise in the sequel. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, CCH Pounder, Stephen Lang, and Sigourney Weaver are all original “Avatar” stars returning for “Avatar 2.”

“I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in ‘Avatar,’ and that was just incredible,” Winslet said in an interview with THR earlier this month. “My longest breath hold was seven minutes and 14 seconds, like crazy, crazy stuff.”

Winslet’s co-star Sigourney Weaver held her breath for six minutes while filming “Avatar 2.” In an interview last week, Weaver learned “to recline on the ocean floor while manta rays glided over her” and trained with “elite military divers so that she could hold her breath, after a big gulp of supplemental oxygen, for more than six minutes.”

“I had some concerns,” Weaver said about the stunt work required for the “Avatar” sequels. “But that’s what the training was for. And I really wanted to do it. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh, she’s old, she can’t do this.’”

Disney is scheduled to release “Avatar 2” in theaters on December 16, 2022. “Avatar 3” will follow with a theatrical release on December 20, 2024. The fourth and fifth films are due in 2026 and 2028.

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