B.C. freediver trained ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ movie cast for underwater scenes
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Posted December 17, 2022 7:36 pm.
Last Updated December 17, 2022 7:40 pm.
A freediving trainer from B.C. trained the cast of “Avatar: The Way of Water” for the movie’s underwater scenes.
Kirk Krack, the president and founder of Performance Freediving International, says the new film is “the biggest diving movie of all time.”
With a striking blend of visual effects and state-of-the-art motion capture technology, the show is billed as a movie-theatre experience unlike any other in the last few years.
Krack says that the movie shows “the reality of [what] diving underwater looks like, because the way you see it on screen is really the way it is.”
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Krack says he met James Cameron on a flight and gave Cameron his business card. But it wasn’t until years later that he got the call to potentially work on the film.
“I eventually was flown down to L.A….and he told me about the story arcs of the five different movies, and the idea behind the Metkayina being free divers and some of the issues that they were having,” Cameron said.
After a few hours of talking, Cameron says he was offered the job, and in 2017 the diving training started.
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“For a lifelong, dedicated professional diver, there’s no better dream you could have than working on a water based movie for James Cameron,” he said.
Although diving in the water may seem natural for characters in the movie, Krack says it took time and dedication for the actors to learn their roles.
“I didn’t just train the cast, I trained their characters, because some of them are supposed to be literally born in the water, and some of them, water is supposed to be the thing they’re doing for the first time,” he said.
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Sigourney Weaver arrives at the U.S. premiere of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
“Sigourney [Weaver], she liked to do a lot of extra training because it was fun and developed her skills, and made her diving reflex bigger, and better, and stronger, so she could get longer more comfortable breath holds, which then allows you to really emote, really bring your character’s emotions to life rather than having to think about breath holding,” he explained.
He adds that his daughter, Kaila, is the same age as actress Trinity Jo-Li Bliss and stood in for her in Bliss’ underwater scenes.
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Krack says he hopes the movie will make people more appreciative of everything the ocean offers to the world, and inspires people to treat the world’s oceans better.
“I think Avatar…is a tale of family, adversity, and the oceans, and different cultures…I hope they also take away the larger message that the oceans are the lifeblood of earth,” he explained.
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Brendan Cowell, from left, Jamie Flatters, Jack Champion, producer Jon Landau, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, director James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Zoe Saldana, Bailey Bass, Sam Worthington, Joel David Moore, and Steve Asbell pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of the film ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ in London, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
“We need to take care of the ocean life inside of the marine environment, and we have a responsibility with this amazing resource, which 70 per cent of the world’s main source of protein comes from,” he added.
He says working on the film was the experience of a lifetime, and he’s looking forward to doing more work on other potential Avatar films.