Kate Winslet couldn't tell the difference between Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 when she was filming the James Cameron-helmed sequels. The movies will bring Winslet and Cameron back together for the first time since 1997's Titanic. The long-awaited sequels are slated for December 2022 and 2024 releases, respectively, and will premiere over a decade after the original film in 2009.
Avatar's record breaking run has Cameron and Disney convinced the sequels will be a big draw, but that remains to be seen. While initial reception for Avatar was highly positive, the film's reputation has soured since. It has become something of a joke considering the number of sequels planned and all the times they've been delayed. Now, Winslet is inadvertently adding to the joke, admitting that she couldn't tell the films apart while shooting.
On Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Winslet revealed she would get confused as to which sequel she was shooting. Winslet did her work for the film in 2018, according to the actress. During that time, Winslet shot for both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, and while she praised the experience as awe-inducing, she also said it was just a little bit confusing:
I lost track of how many he [Cameron] is making at once. I did two at once, in tandem with him. All my work was in 2018… It’s an extraordinary experience. You go into this huge aircraft hanger and anything is possible. You want to fly today? You want to do some spear fighting underwater? Sure, we’ll do it. It was wonderful for me to be a part of such a well-oiled machine, with such great artists and technicians.
Winslet can hardly be blamed for confusing Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, especially while working on both at the same time. It doesn't help that movies shoot out of order, making it even more difficult to keep track of storylines. With multiple sequels in the works, there's a lot of Avatar coming. While Cameron has consistently impressed with his films, many are wondering if the director can pull off so many entries in the Avatar franchise so close together. Winslet seems confident enough—the actress praised Cameron's process, and the director is certainly more qualified than anyone else to expand the world of Avatar.
How much people are actually interested is another question entirely. The sheer number of big budget Avatar sequels is quite the gamble for Disney. The studio surely has money to spare, but without a gimmick like 3D to pull in audiences, it may be difficult to retain the mass amounts of interest garnered by the first film. The underwater technology touted for Avatar 2 may not be enough to draw people into seats, but pure curiosity just might be. Audiences will at least be pulled in by the sheer scale of the film and to see whether or not Cameron can pull off a miracle for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 13 years after the original film.
Source: WTF with Marc Maron
