It goes without saying that James Cameron is considered one of the most revolutionary filmmakers of all time. Cameron’s best movies demonstrate how he constantly pushes the envelope by effectively taking advantage of technological developments. Ahead of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, leading man Sam Worthington is speaking about being the “guinea pig” on the Canadian filmmaker’s ongoing sci-fi franchise with all the filmmaking risks he takes.
While many before him made strides in the realm of motion capture, James Cameron arguably perfected it with 2009’s Avatar. The director knew he wanted actors to be able to give complete performances through the use of the technique and pull it off seamlessly. In fact, a cool BTS fact about Cameron’s film is that he was so set on that tech, that even came up with the concept for the movie in 1994, he waited until technology advanced before making it.
Just when it looked like Avatar already changed the game with its motion-capture effects, James Cameron took it a step further with performance capture underwater scenes in 2022’s The Way of Water. Sam Worthington, who plays Jake Sully in the blockbuster franchise, spoke to Collider about being James Cameron’s “guinea pig” amid the director’s technological advancements, and he didn’t exactly complain about that:
Any time we’re doing something with Avatar, we’re pushing the envelope because it’s never been done. It’s never been tried. On Avatar Two, no one had ever attempted or even thought you could do underwater motion capture. That’s what Cameron does, and I’m always his guinea pig. I love being the soldier that jumps into the water with all the technology on me and see what happens.
James Cameron’s dazzling underwater technology truly was a standout within the first of the Avatar sequels. When watching the film, one could really feel like they were underwater with the Na’vi. Another of series’ stars, Sigourney Weaver, felt The Way of Water took so long to make, because the Oscar-winning director wanted to perfect his technology. Sam Worthington, like his co-stars, had to put in a lot of work, but I’m glad he can appreciate the finished product.
Filming those mo-cap underwater scenes sounds ridiculously hard, with actors wearing motion-capture water suits swimming in a massive tank. Special underwater cameras were used to capture the reflective markers to ensure their body movements and facial expressions were seen. On top of that, the adult and child actors had to learn to hold their breaths for extended periods of time.
In my opinion, Sam Worthington is lucky to have been one of the first to partake in James Cameron’s innovative technological endeavors. The Australian actor went on to explain to Collider that his desire to work in fresh filmmaking territory goes beyond his collaboration with the Terminator helmer as well:
I love being around that. I love being around filmmakers that there is no boundaries. They’re just willing to keep pushing this art form. It’s a very infant art form when you compare it to music or literature. I really wanna be with those guys that are keen to take risks and keen to keep pushing it.
The Avatar series isn’t the first time James Cameron pushed the envelope in his filmmaking journey. Terminator 2’s special effects in creating the “liquid metal” for the antagonist T-1000 assassin were revolutionary at the time. Also, for one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, The Abyss, Cameron invented new equipment like special helmets for the actors’ faces to be seen clearly underwater and filmed the deep water scenes in an enormous tank. So, yeah, Cameron certainly likes to try stuff out.
Considering everything he’s done so far, I’m excited to see what the Titanic director has planned for Fire and Ash. He previously teased that a darker, sinister group would be introduced and called the “Ash People.” There’s not too much we can go on at this point. However, based on history, I’d assume that the director, Sam Worthington (who I may now lovingly refer to as “guinea pig”) and their collaborators are going to up the ante again when it comes to filmmaking.
Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19 as part of the 2025 movie schedule. Until then, you can watch the first two movies of the franchise on your Disney+ subscription.