Avatar 2: Kate Winslet is 'very proud' of breaking Tom Cruise's underwater record
Beating Cruise's record from Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, Winslet held her breath underwater for seven minutes while filming an Avatar 2 water scene.
Kate Winslet shoots her underwater scenes for Avatar 2.
When filming underwater scenes, sometimes actors and stunt people are required to hold their breath for longer than usual. In the case of director James Cameron's upcoming Avatar 2 movie, many of the scenes seem to take place in the water.
Actor Kate Winslet, who plays what is described as a "water person" in the movie, held her breath for an impressive seven minutes and 14 seconds. She topped the record of actor Tom Cruise, who held his breath for six minutes while filming an underwater stunt for the 2015 movie Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.
"It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I'll probably never be able to do it again," Winslet told Entertainment Tonight on Nov. 10. "That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it. We're very, very lucky as actors that often we have to learn a whole new skill."
On Oct. 26, Avatar producer Jon Landau posted an image of Winslet filming an underwater scene in one of the movie's massive set. He also included a quote from Winslet from a recent interview of her talking about holding her breath underwater.
"I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in Avatar, and that was just incredible," Landau quoted Winslet saying in her interview. "My longest breath-hold was seven minutes and 14 seconds, like crazy, crazy stuff. I play a water person. I am a water person."
Avatar 2 will see the return of Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, plus Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver.
Previously, fans have been treated to Avatar 2 set pictures and concept art on social media, including views from the elaborate set.
The live-action shooting of Avatar 2 and 3 in New Zealand is almost finished, but coronavirus-related delays now have Avatar 2's release date on Dec. 16, 2022. Avatar 3's release date is Dec. 20, 2024.
Originally published on Nov. 1, 2020.
