Zoe Saldaña Finally Saw Avatar 2 and Has a Lot to Say About It
The actress went through a lot on set, so watching the sequel was rewarding in and of itself.
Zoe Saldaña who played (through the motion capture) the Na'vi Neytiri in James Cameron 's 2009 science-fiction epic Avatar and reprised her role for the sequel, has confirmed that she has seen the final cut of Avatar: The Way of Water.
She revealed that when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:
Neytiri was the role which really catapulted Zoe Saldaña into prominence (she has played Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy since then) and arguably her highest-profile role, so it is not surprising that watching her return on the screen had a real emotional impact on Zoe:
"I'm still processing, it's very emotional. I'm surprised my eyelashes stayed on. I was like sobbing."
But however emotional she was, she remained clear-headed enough to avoid any sort of spoilers:
"So it's really special, and I can give you like a little hint: it's about water!"
Avatar: The Way of Water is the second movie of James Cameron's planned five-movie franchise.
If the original Avatar was the world's highest-grossing movie of all time, the sequel (filmed simultaneously with Avatar 3) for now only holds the title of one of the most expensive productions in Hollywood history (estimated between $350-400 million), though the pandemic disruption, which caused the filming to take more than three years, is partially to blame.
Cameron himself has acknowledged that The Way of Water needs to be at least in the top four of all-time box office successes just to break even.
So it is no surprise that Zoe Saldaña is careful to avoid spoilers. But at least her reaction can tell us a couple of things.
While watching The Way of Water is unlikely to have as much of an emotional impact on us, as on someone deeply involved with its creation, we can hope that this movie is, to an extent, a passion project for its cast and crew.
Also, The Way of Water may be able to better emotionally connect with audiences than the original Avatar, which was frequently criticized for lacking emotion, where it should have been.
In any case, Saldaña's words may be just an exaggeration meant to increase hype. We will see for ourselves on December 16, when The Way of Water releases.