How Kate Winslet broke records with 'Avatar: the Way of Water'

Kate Winslet's role in the film 'Avatar: The Way of Water' is really something special! Read further to see how she broke several records while making it.

The award-winning actress worked with James Cameron on a big, sinking ship in 1997. Then, a quarter of a century later, she went underwater once again, with the same director.

The underwater sequel to 'Avatar,' 'The Way of Water,' came out in December 2022 as one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Its first installment had been released almost 13 years earlier.

Photo: 20th Century Fox

'Avatar' topped the box office in 2009. The blue-skinned aliens impressed the public, along with the tropical other-worldly setting and the environmental messages of the film.

Photo: @officialavatar / Twitter

It was a big surprise for many to hear that Kate Winslet joined the cast of the movie's sequel. It was her first collaboration with Cameron since 'Titanic' in 1997.

Playing a member of the Metkayina clan, a mysterious character named Ronal, Winslet has risen to the challenge of filming underwater.

'Avatar: the Way of Water' is an underwater movie. In the photos released by 20th Century Fox, the whole setting of the movie looks idyllic.

Photo: @officialavatar / Twitter

As the story goes, the Sully family has to leave the rainforest of Pandora for a "safe harbor" at the reef. In this new environment, they meet another clan called the Metkayina. And Kate Winslet is among them.

Photo: @officialavatar / Twitter

Winslet and the other actors had to train for months to hold their breath underwater. It's the same training that aquatic athletes go through.

Much of the filming took place in a 900,000-gallon tank which was built specifically for the sequels. It mimicked the ocean's swirling currents and crashing waves.

Photo: @officialavatar / Twitter

As producer Landau recalls, "we had this circular tank, maybe 40 feet wide, with a big glass portal in it. I walked by one day and I see Kate Winslet walking on the bottom of the tank. She’s walking towards me and sees me in the window, and she just waves, gets to the end of the wall, turns around, and walks all the way back."

Photo: @officialavatar / Twitter

The most impressive thing was that Kate Winslet "blew everybody away when she did a seven-and-a-half-minute breath-hold," according to Cameron.

This means that Winslet has yet another title to her name: she has broken Tom Cruise's underwater filming record from 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' (2015) of six minutes.

Winslet joined a star-studded cast with Sigourney Weaver, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldaña, and Sam Worthington, among others. The 72-year-old Sigourney Weaver, in the image, reportedly managed to hold her breath for six and a half minutes.

Cameron is one of the most ambitious directors in the industry. He wants everything in the franchise to be just right.

Experts in underwater dance and gymnastics trained the actors to minimize the bubbles. They also had to learn the Na’vi sign language.

Photo: Twitter @officialavatar

Even though some critics thought the film was too long-winded, the star cast and the amazing investments in the film's special effects made 'Avatar: The Way of Water' a memorable movie project.