Sigourney Weaver made her ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ character more “awkward” in the ‘Avatar’ sequel

The 73-year-old actress will play the adolescent Kiri in the long-awaited sci-fi sequel and revealed that she wanted to add some “awkwardness” to the character’s look

Sigourney, who played the role of Dr. Grace Augustine in the original ‘Avatar’ film said “I had a very early conversation with Jim (Cameron, director) about this, and he was very already committed to this kind of character, but who she was, what she was about was something we talked about at the beginning.

“When I first saw the pictures of my character, she was so perfect, every hair in place. And I said, ‘Jim, when you’re a 13, 14-year-old girl, that is not how you feel about yourself.’

“I was this tall when I was 11, so I was just like a big spider moving around, knocking things over. And I felt that it was a more difficult time for Kiri, especially because the family is uprooted in the beginning.”

The ‘Alien’ star worked together with the costume designers to make Kiri “awkward” and explained how she drew on her teenage experiences to bring the character to life on screen.

Sigourney said: “I got together with the designers or the drawers and just brought some awkwardness. That’s what he ended up calling it now, ‘awkward Kiri’, as opposed to ‘perfect Kiri’.

“For better or worse, my awkward, self-conscious teenager was able to flow right into Kiri, and I had to work in a completely different way, which is kind of letting it flow into me, letting her – I don’t know that any of us is very far removed from our adolescent moment, because it certainly stands out in bold relief for a lot of people.

“I’m not sure how far I’ve gotten away from my teenager, but Jim said to me, ‘You can do this. You’re so immature. This is about how old you are anyway.'”

‘Avatar 2’ Stars Reveal Why Kate Winslet Was Best at Holding Breath for Underwater Scenes

James Cameron enlisted the help of “the world’s best breath-hold specialists” to help Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña and Kate Winslet for underwater sequences

The Avatar: The Way of Water cast grew skilled at holding their breath underwater in order to film scenes while completely submerged.

Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldaña spoke about their efforts to learn the techniques for the sequel in a conversation with director James Cameron.

Saldaña, 44, noted that the “first step is you fake it till you make it” when it comes to filming underwater.

“You tell your boss, ‘Yeah, absolutely, I’m so excited,’ and then it’s complete horror, like, ‘What am I going to do?’ At best, you’re going to walk away with a brand-new aptitude, but I was scared,” she admitted. “I come from generations of island people, and the one thing people don’t know about island life is that if you’re from islands that have been colonized, a great percentage of people don’t know how to swim.”

“Through folklore, you are taught to love the ocean as if it’s a goddess, but you fear it,” she added.

Weaver, 73, said the cast was taught how to hold their breath by freediving instructor Kirk Krack “for about a year” while they worked on the movie. She revealed that she “actually got up to about six and a half minutes.”

“I was not moving,”. “It’s much easier to hold your breath when you’re not moving.”

Avatar: The Way of Water is in theaters Dec. 16.