Actor Zoe Saldaña, who stars in Avatar: The Way of Water, revealed that she cried while watching the upcoming film.
In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Saldaña recounted the experience of watching the Avatar sequel. "I'm still processing," she admitted. "It's very emotional. I'm surprised my eyelashes stayed on. I was like, sobbing. So it's really special, and I can give you like a little hint: it's about water!”
Part of Saldaña's emotional reaction to The Way of Water may have to do with the fact that the film is heavily centered around characters and relationships, according to director James Cameron. In a recent interview, Cameron justified the film's over three-hour runtime by stating the film's emphasis is "more on character, more on story, more on relationships, more on emotion." He said, "We didn’t spend as much time on relationship and emotion in the first film as we do in the second film, and it’s a longer film, because there’s more characters to service. There’s more story to service."
The Way of Water Is a Family Story
Similarly, Cameron also described The Way of Water, which serves as a sequel to 2009's Avatar, as a "family story," but not in the way that audiences might expect. This isn’t that kind of family story. This is a family story like how The Sopranos is a family story." While The Way of Water has not yet been released in theaters, box office experts have predicted that the film will bring in an impressive $200 million opening weekend, which would more than double the $77 million opening of the original movie.
An opening this big would likely serve as a relief to The Way of Water's producers, as the film is reportedly one of the most expensive ever made, with inside sources estimating that the film has a budget between $350 million and $400 million. Cameron admitted that the film's large budget was a risky business decision, noting that the film has to be "the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history" in order to "break even." He even went as far as to describe the upcoming film as "the worst business case in movie history."
Regardless of how bad a business decision Cameron feels that The Way of Water might be, the director felt it important to make the film, in part, as a rebuke of modern comic book movies. "I was consciously thinking to myself, Okay, all these superheroes, they never have kids," explained Cameron, adding that he gave characters in The Way of Water kids so that "their instinct is to be fearless and do crazy things."
Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on Dec. 16.
Source: YouTube