That their first film — as fruitful as the ultimate product was — wasn’t the smoothest expertise could have been partly on account of Cameron’s unconventional courtship of Weaver. When she wavered on returning as Ripley within the sequel, Cameron approached Arnold Schwarzenegger’s agent, who additionally represented Weaver, with the thought of Schwarzenegger taking on the movie collection. It was a approach, as soon as phrase filtered again to her, to coax Weaver into signing on. The gambit labored.

“The first few weeks on Aliens was a bit rocky while we tested each other,” Cameron says. “After that, we’ve been fast friends forever.”

That long-running friendship and collaboration reaches an unlikely pinnacle in Avatar: The Way of the Water, Cameron’s long-awaited oceanic opus. Though Weaver co-starred in Cameron’s unique 2009 Avatar, her character, Dr. Grace Augustine was shot and killed by the top of the movie. In 2010, whereas Cameron was sketching out what would finally turn into plans for 4 extra Avatar movies, he met with Weaver to recommend a novel thought of how she is perhaps reborn on Pandora.

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Weaver would come again in a wholly new position: Kiri, the 14-year-old organic daughter of Grace’s avatar. In the movie, which opens in theaters on December 16, Weaver performs the Na’vi character, adopted by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). It’s not straightforward logic to parse out. What, precisely, are the reproductive capacities of avatars?

“I had to jump through a few fiery hoops to get her on this movie. Not that she was unwilling, but in terms of narrative logic,” says Cameron. “OK, she’s the daughter of the avatar of Grace Augustine, you know what I mean? So of course she looks like Grace. Makes sense, right? Oh, by the way, you’ve got to be 14 years old.”

But the top results of Cameron’s narrative logic is easy sufficient: Sigourney Weaver is again within the Avatar fold. And not solely that, by efficiency seize she’s enjoying a wide-eyed teenage Na’vi who seems a bit like an alien Winona Ryder. As Weaver likes to say, in science fiction, “Everything is possible.”

“I know that no one but Jim would have cast me as a 14-year-old. As he said, people think I’m kind of serious and strong and all those things. He knows that that’s just malarkey,” says Weaver, smiling. “He said, ‘This will be easy for you.’”

It required a bit extra work than Cameron made out. Like the remainder of the solid, to movie the film’s intensive underwater scenes, Weaver skilled for the underwater efficiency seize work by studying the right way to maintain her breath underwater for six minutes. “Six and a half,” Weaver corrects. Getting again into the headspace of a teen additionally demanded some immersion. She hung out in excessive colleges, she says. “I needed time to unearth my 14 year old.”

“I was this tall when I was 11, which was excruciating,” says the 5-foot-10 Weaver, the daughter of pioneering TV govt Pat Weaver and the British actress Elizabeth Inglis. “I still, at 14, spent half my time wanting to disappear. I think Kiri has some issues that are difficult for her. She’s the adoptive daughter. She’s very much part of the family, but she also has these things going on that she doesn’t quite understand.”

It’s not a one-off efficiency, both. Cameron envisions huge issues for Kiri in future Avatar installments. He’s already filmed the third movie, begun taking pictures the fourth and developed the fifth. Fans of Weaver from Ghostbusters, Working Girl and Galaxy Quest will get another probability to get older, once more, with the 73-year-old actress.

“She’s a very, very important character,” Cameron says. “If we’re lucky enough, in terms of enough financial success on the movie to break even and make it a proper business case going forward and we get to do 3′’ — we’ve already captured everything with Sigourney for ‘3’ — and then ‘4’ and ‘5.’ Her character has increasing importance across the greater saga. Both of us are looking forward to that exploration.”