Great.
Oh, congratulations and welcome back to Pandora.
It's an amazing film.
I want to start because I wrote
in my notes the most metal scene I've ever seen.
When you pick up your own skull and crush, it was when you read that.
Was that like an immediate. Yes.
I want to come back to Pandora to do this moment?
Well, sure.
That was the scene that Jim [James Cameron] and I had discussed at length before,
before it was ever written.
In fact, that was that was incorporated
into the script as as something that we we had kind of discussed.
So I knew it was coming.
Amazing.
We have to ask.
It's an existential moment that that one would have.
How could you not have that scene?
I exactly.
And it just I remember feeling this is the best scene.
So cool.
And I really like your you character's got a brand new dimension
many different dimensions of him now because he's playing
some something that he hated in the first film.
How do you bring that kind of like balance to him that he's now the Navi
that he's wanting to eradicate?
Well, how do you do it?
You do it with, you know, daring and abandon.
It seems to me you just plunge in, but as use it, it's good.
I'm glad.
I'm delighted that you actually perceive it.
But also I understand that Quaritch himself perceives
the irony in this situation.
And that's a wonderful thing.
Of course, as an immensely intelligent guy,
he does tend to think in straight lines, but he if look where you take
a couple of Navi arrows to the chest, that can be a humbling experience.
And if you don't learn from that, then you don't deserve to come back.
But he does learn from that, I think, and he's learned that
that he needs to go the way of water himself.
He needs to to to begin to operate with a certain type of fluidity,
a certain type of agility that maybe he didn't before.
Before he he basically operated at right angles and was really attempting
to make this world fit into his vision of what this world needed to be.
I think he's come around on that a bit.
Absolutely.
Now he's like, how can Pandora work for me?
And How can I work with Pandora to use it to my benefit?
But I still got to where I'm still going to work.
Yeah, actually,
I think one of the best scenes is when you start learning of how the Navi
work and process, how is it learning all that,
those kind of traits and adding those kind of skills?
We had there were many scenes also that that that don't make
because you can only do so much.
But there were scenes actually of learning the Navi way,
which were they were great fun to shoot.
They were they were very
they were
very much part of his story, his journey.
But I but, you know, you can't you got to.
Yeah, you got to stop.
At some point, they they finally decided that,
you know, 2 hours and 72 minutes would be a good length for this movie.
I think that's where we ended up.
Absolutely.
And I what struck me the most about this film is in the first time
I obviously hated your character's the main antagonist, but
I found so much heart with him in this one because he's got Spider.
And I think he sort of sees a reflection of himself in this kid.
How is it developing this kind of genuine emotional kind of arc for him?
Well, it's difficult.
It's not something that he's looking for.
It's not something he particularly wants.
And yet there it is.
You know, Spider is
I think that he's referred to early in the film as something of a stray cat.
And I like that.
And Quaritch, you know, I think because probably has
a certain affinity for stray cats when you get right down to it.
And of course, he's
got a personal relationship with with Spider, whether he chooses
to acknowledge it or not, but the fact that he actually is present
for Spider at times, even though he attempts
to kind of repudiate it in a way to the kid.
Yeah, it
don't ring quite, you know, he's trying to convince himself.
The kid means nothing to him, but it demonstrates that they're going to fly.
Yes. And how is it working with Jack Champion on those scenes together?
Well, I love working with Jack.
He you know, it's Jack was raw clay coming in, as were the kids,
immense talent, but, you know, not a lot of experience.
And so that kind of keeps you up to the mark.
It means that, you know,
you understand that they're second in everything that they see you do.
And so you want to give them you want to give it your best.
Be very we could be very demanding on on Jack.
Jim could be very demanding on all the kids and everything.
But but also understand you're working with with kids.
So you got your work with heart and you work with compassion in your work.
Understand that there's there's also a mentoring aspect,
whether you want it or not. It's there.
But he was how fortunate is Jack to have people like Sam Worthington and and Zoe
Saldana and and Sigourney Weaver and Jim Cameron kind of guiding him along the way.
And then he got me you. I'm just slapping him around.
It's like a contrary prospect crisis.
And he was like, Nope, I'm going to bring you back and ask you.
Discuss it with them.
Just do what I tell you to do will you kid?!
You know, we did great. I love Jack.
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for talking with me today for that.
For those of the films. Incredible.
And thank you very much. Thank you so much.