Avatar: The Way Of Water Used Older Sigourney Weaver Movies As Reference To Create Kiri
We all remember where we were when it was revealed that Sigourney Weaver would be playing a teenage Na'vi named Kiri in "Avatar: The Way of Water." This casting is genuinely one of the most exciting and inspired casting decisions I've heard in a while, and what makes it even cooler is that the character of Kiri is somehow connected to her previous role of Dr. Grace Augustine. The fact that this is a prominent story thread proves you should never bet against the madness of James Cameron. Of course, Weaver is still a few decades older than Kiri in the film, and if we learned anything from "The Irishman," it's that covering a performance with special effects might not be able to mask obvious age discrepancies.
However, senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri claimed during a recent press conference attended by /Film that the Weta Workshop team was thinking two steps ahead of this during development. He revealed that the team had rewatched and reviewed some of Weaver's older work in order to pick up on any particular mannerisms that they can adapt for Kiri.
"We went back and looked at a lot of Sigourney's old films and did motion studies and tests," he explained, "because we wanted to make sure that when Sigourney saw Kiri on the screen, she was seeing what she had in her head when she was playing the character. That was probably one of the things we spent the most time on."
Turning back the clock
With various references to bounce off of, Letteri and the rest of the team at Weta Workshop began formulating a plan to bring Kiri to life. While they could certainly do a lot with special effects, the challenge of making the character truly feel real ultimately relied on Weaver's motion-capture performance. Thankfully, she already had a very clear vision of what Kiri should be like, which she channeled into her performance.
"Sigourney's performance, I think, was really critical," said Letteri, "because when you watch Sigourney perform, she drops instantly into character as a 14-year-old girl. She's fantastic at it."
It's not a secret that Weaver used memories and experiences from when she was a young girl as inspiration for Kiri. When news of the casting was announced in Empire Magazine, she referred to it as a challenge to both Cameron and herself.
"I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents. I certainly do," Weaver recalled. "I felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time. She's searching for who she is."
You can see Weaver re-channel her younger self in "Avatar: The Way of Water," which is currently making a splash in theaters.