Avatar 2 has been branded “the most insanely complicated movie ever made” following the debut of new footage.
Finished scenes from the sequel, titled Avatar: The Way of Water, were shown during James Cameron’s keynote speech at Digital Day.
Writer-director Liam O’Donnell revealed details of footage that was shown, including a “badass” scene of of Sam Worthington’s character firing a machine gun while riding an alien whale underwater.
Talking about the extreme lengths Cameron went to make the film, O’Donnell wrote on Twitter. “AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER appears to be the most insanely complicated movie ever made. Holy s***. James Cameron’s Digital Day keynote just broke my brain.”
He continued: “Just the amount of data they captured... Underwater performance capture with 15 cameras. 2 cams on every actor’s face capture. Underwater reference capture for fully CG creatures. Oh yeah and infrared depth capture to place CG characters in the live action footage.”
As was previously reported, the film’s cast, including Sigourney Weaver and Kate Winslet, and crew members were trained to breathe for two to three minutes underwater in order to shoot their scenes.
Speaking on podcast Action for Everyone, O’Donnell said that Cameron made it clear that all actors were encouraged to cut whenever they were uncomfortable or found themselves unable to hold their breath.
O’Donnell said the film was “without a doubt the edible movie of the decade”, adding: “As always don’t bet against Cameron.”
Avatar 2, which will come 13 years after the original was released, will be presented in 3D, with attendees being handed out special glasses to wear before being shown the footage. It will be the first of three sequels.
In preparation of the film’s release on 16 December, the first Avatar is getting re-released in cinemas. Ahead of this, it was noted that the film had been removed from Disney Plus, which led to users criticising the studio.
