Almost 13 full years ago, James Cameron releasedAvatar, his first fictional cinematic tale since 1997’sTitanic, to the masses, and it went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time.Avataris now back in the public consciousness not only due to its long-awaited sequel,Avatar: The Way of Water, coming out in December, but becausethe originalAvataris playing in theaters againfor a limited time (with dazzlingWay of Waterunderwater footage attached). WithAvataron the public’s brain, one of the original movie’s crew members decided to share a side-by-side video showcasing how ridiculous filming a motion-capture scene is, but how the end result is worth it.
Garrett Warren worked onAvataras a stunt coordinator, and among the duties that came with the job was for him to not only help operate a puppet of a Ikran, but also to make the sounds of this Pandoran creature with whom the Na’vi have a special relationship. You can compare how this process went down on set to the final product inAvataritself by watching the below video that Warren shared on hisInstagrampage:
This video serves as a good reminder that if you’re going to do motion-capture work, you need to be ok with making yourself look foolish. While Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and the other Na’vi actors performed their scenes like they would on any other production, albeit in mo-cap suits and with attached gear recording their facial expressions, Garrett Warren and a few other men operated the “rubber chicken,” as James Cameron called it, after spending half a day figuring out how to do that. Then Warren had the added pressure of giving off the Ikran cry, which the stunt coordinator described as “a cross between a horse and pterodactyl.”
升级当山姆沃辛顿的事情to straight up jump on the puppet and wrestle with it to simulate Jake Sully subduing the Ikran so that he can bond with it. It’s a pretty chaotic scene, especially since Worthington, Garrett Warren and the other puppeteers surely to be careful not to damage the Ikran puppet. After the “better part of a day” though, this scene was completed, and from thereAvatar’s postproduction team went in to overlay the visuals that audiences would see on the big screen, as well as come up with the “real” Ikran cry based off of Warren’s original vocals.
Avatarshot in 2007, and while motion-capture and visual effects technology has advanced quite a bit since then, I imagine there were still moments during the making ofAvatar: The Way of Waterthat came off as ridiculous as the scene Garret Warren shared. In any case,after more than a decade of waiting for anotherAvatarmovie, fans are now just a few months away from getting to return to thisMadonna-influenced franchise, withThe Way of Waterfollowing Jake, Neytiri and their children dealing with threats both old and new on Pandora. While the originalAvatarisn’t currently available to watch with aDisney+ subscriptiondue to its current limited theatrical engagement, there’s a good chance it will be put back on the streaming platform before the sequel’s release.
Avatar: The Way of Wateropens in theaters on December 16, and three other sequels are respectively slated for 2024, 2026 and 2028. Look through our2022 release scheduleto learn what other movies are left to come out this year.
