Sigourney Weaver on Avatar: The Way of Water, Working with James Cameron & Making Aliens

Our first guest tonight is a legend of film whose movies have made almost $8 billion. Her latest might earn that all by itself. Avatar, The Way of Water hits theaters on Friday. Please welcome Sigourney Weaver. I was at the premiere last night, at which you stood up and spoke very. I was actually thinking, wow, this is impressive how beautifully you can speak about this project. Really? Yeah, I was impressed by it. And then I heard it was like it was a surprise. You didn't know you were going to speak. Yeah, they let me know on the red carpet because our wonderful director, Jim Cameron, has gotten, after 13 years of work, he has COVID and missed his big opening. You know, it's funny. I was actually feeling, I don't know him. I don't think I've ever met him. But I was feeling bad for him because the whole, all the work, the payoff is sitting in that theater with the audience and hearing this great movie. And it was a great, it is a great movie. And then he didn't get any of that. I hope he did. I hope he could hear the cheers and whoops from wherever he's staying. I hope he didn't, because I don't want to get COVID from him. You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger was sitting right in front of me. Can you still see? I could see, yeah, yeah. He's, you know, we're about the same height. But he was, I don't know why that's funny. But he didn't get up to pee once in the three hours and 12 minutes. I'll tell you that. He was glued to that seat. And with the 3D glasses on, he looked like the Terminator. Wow. Well, we like to think of it as two hours and 72 minutes. OK. You know, it's funny. That does give it a little spin. It's like when you charge $24.95 instead of $25. Makes a big difference. Yeah. But it did not feel long. It really didn't. It really is. You first worked with Cameron on Alien, right? That was, and that was, they say he is a very particular, I think, perfectionist, which is probably the nice way of putting it. Well, you know, I think he is a perfectionist. I think a lot of people in this business are, though. But he does very, very difficult things like this movie. Right, yeah. You know, and gets it right, which takes 13 years. Yeah, and it took five years to actually shoot this movie, right, this movie and the sequel? It took five years to shoot it and edit it. Gotcha. And add the Weta Digital magic that takes you to Pandora. And you are, you're in the movie. And I don't, how long were you, like how many, it didn't take you five years to shoot this, right? No, I think I was, I was on the movie for 18 months. OK. So this is my question. How did, how, what happened? Because I'm watching this movie, and I'm just, I don't know, I don't know how much of it is you, and if that's really you, and the Na'vi, and they have these weird bodies, and we hear your voice, but we don't know if it's really not your face. Well, everything you see the actors do is exactly what we did. So we're in these little performance capture suits. It's actually the most actor-centric work you can do, because there's no makeup, and costume, or different cameras, different, you do several takes, but all of the angles are then stored in this magic camera that Jim Cameron has. So he can go back into the volume, which is a big, empty space where we are in our black suits. Everything is the imagination. And he can shoot any angle he wants of his favorite takes without you having to repeat it. But yet, it's then not you on screen. It's this creature that you're playing. Why do you have, and you're jumping around, like, and doing crazy. So you're telling me you really did that stuff. Yes, I did. I would say that I also had a stunt double. So if it was really crazy, he probably had her do it a bunch of times, too. Yes, OK. But everything you see my character do, I have done. Wow. That's crazy. I think people will understand that it's crazy more when they see the movie. What about diving? What about, like, the act of being on those creatures, and riding them, and going into the water? We trained to free dive, and then we did all that stuff. They also had really superb divers there to do some of, I would say, the faster stuff. But everything you see us do, we did. And then they might have improved it or speeded it up with other divers. Is it crazy to sit there and watch that app, knowing what you went through? Well, no, actually. I think we're in shock that we were able to do it, because it wasn't easy. But the good thing about Jim is he doesn't ask you to do those crazy things without making sure you have the training to do it. Has he ever asked you to do something crazy that you said, no, I will not do? Yes. Oh. Yes? And what is that? Well, in the past, when I was doing aliens with him, sometimes he would ask me to do things. Like once, I had to be running around the Acton Power Station. You know, at the end, when I have the flamethrower in one hand, I have the little girl in the other. And so the alien has taken the little girl, and it's woven her into this nest. So I find her, and we're at the nest. And poor little Carrie Han is inside the nest. And Jim says, so what you do is you come here, and you rip apart this nest, and you get her out. And I touched the nest. I said, what's this made out of? He said, you know, it's just sort of spun glass. I said, well, won't it cut me? And he goes, of course it won't cut you. Look. And he does this stuff with his hands. And he's fine, OK? Then, action, I do it. And then, and I'm bleeding, like stigmata, you know? So I always say yes, but I always make sure. But is there a baby inside this fiberglass? Not a baby, a little girl. Yeah, but she's really in there? She is in there, but she's protected. OK, she's protected. It's just you were left unprotected. Well, you know, I have rubber gloves. He has a submarine. Do you know anybody else who has a submarine? No, I guess he's the only one. He's probably the only one, right? And have you ever taken a ride in that submarine? He has asked me to go with him. He has? I said, you don't want that. Really? Well, I don't want to go down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Why? It's 10 hours down. Oh, wow, is it really? Like, you know, you have to breathe and be very quiet. And I don't think I can do that. He wouldn't want me in there with him. You know, I'd be like, no. Is that true, you have to be quiet? Well, well, who's he going to talk to? I don't think he has any experience of chatting with anyone. I guess he could chat to someone at the top, like I'm still alive. Oh, so it's a one-person submarine. I think so. Oh, oh, yeah, that's no fun at all. Yeah. He probably has a few other subs. I'm now understanding why it took him 13 years to make this movie. He's spending 10 hours going to the bottom of the ocean by himself. Yeah, I mean, that took a few years. Yeah. He had to create this submersible to do that. He had to invent it. He had to. Of course, why wouldn't you invent a submersible? That's what I would do. All right, well, we're going to come back. When we come back, we're going to see a clip from the movie. It's going to be, it's the biggest movie of all time. Avatar, The Way of Water, opened the theater's part of the day. Hi, Mom. Maybe I'm just losing it out here, but I'm seeing real evidence of a systemic response on a global level. I can't, I won't use the term intelligence. It's, it's, um, maybe awareness is a better word. It's, it's like the entire biosphere of Pandora is aware and capable of this cognitive response. We are back. Can I tell you something? I know this is dumb, but I did not realize that that was you playing the animated character at all. It's not animated. Well, whatever it is. What do we call it then? Well, animation is like cartoons. So this is a performance capture. So all the speaking, the acting, the behavior, all happens at once. It's not added. But then they, what a digital does, take this basic beginning, center, and then make me into not. Right, but it would have taken me so long to say that, and so I just said animated, and they knew exactly what. Well, I think that's why it's more of an experience than a cartoon. Yes, it is definitely more of an experience than a cartoon. Even the water that you see rushing over you and all around you, that is all CGI, wet or digital. And I couldn't help but every once in a while taking my 3D glasses off just to see what it looks like without the 3D. And? It still looked pretty good. Good. Yeah, yeah. OK, so you're playing the character you played in the original movie, Dr. Augustine, and then you're playing this 14-year-old Na'vi hybrid. Yeah, I don't know what I can say and what I can't say. She's not sure either, but she is adopted. Grace Augustine seems to be her mother, but Grace is not alive to tell us who the father is. And she's adopted by Jake and Natiri to be one of the four or five children that they have. Were you surprised that they asked you to play the 14-year-old? Well, I thought if he was crazy enough to ask me to do that, I might just be crazy enough to say yes. And when you were playing a teenager, I heard you went to school to study teenagers. Yeah, I mean, I did visit LaGuardia High School a few times and just sit in on some classes of that age group because it's such a wonderful age, but there's so much going on. And there's all different levels of maturity. So in terms of the voice, which I wanted to hear the pitch, you have kids who still sound like kids, and then kids who sound really grown up. Yeah, and then some kids have half and half. They're like, how you doing? Could have tried to do that, but I didn't. So I wanted to just take in what my area was so I can blend that with the obnoxious teenager that I was. What did you make of sitting in a classroom full of these kids? I assume they're, what, like, I don't know, what, eighth grade or something like that? No, I think they were all studying theater, so I think it was probably like ninth and 10th grade. I see. And did you feel like it was so different from when you went to school, or was it basically the same? I think it was basically the same, except I didn't have some terrific theater class at my high school. Right, you just had the regular classes we all have. Yes, exactly. Yeah. LaGuardia is a performance. Right, a famous performing arts school in New York. Were you, when you were a teenager, you weren't involved in acting and doing that kind of stuff? Not really. Were you a troublemaker as a child? No, but I'll tell you what, I was this tall when I was 11, so if there was trouble going on and I was near it, I would be the one that was caught, because the teacher could see me. You know, I was like this big spider over there, laughing or whatever. And then the real troublemakers would get away, because they were smart. Yeah, and short, sure. And short. They say the best troublemakers scurry around practically unnoticed. The ringleaders. Well, the movie is fantastic. It's called Avatar, The Way of Water. It opens at theaters Friday. Get your 3D glasses on and go see it at the old-fashioned movies. Sigourney Weaver, thank you for being here. We'll be back.