-Welcome back, everybody.
I'm hanging out with Zoe Saldana!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Star of "Avatar: The Way of Water."
All of your scenes are filmed wearing mo-cap.
-Yes.
-Those are motion-capture -- Are they balls?
What do we call them? Capsule? -Yes, yes.
It's -- There are these silver balls that are detected
by all these cameras that are installed in a set,
which -- We call it the volume.
So, these cameras are all --
And they have to be at the same distance to each other.
And these balls that are in your onesie --
Because you are wearing a little onesie, like a unitard.
And all these balls are on different parts --
-Over your head, too? -Yeah, well, the helmet.
The helmet has these balls to identify the head of your Na'vi.
And then the balls on your -- Why are we calling it balls?
It feels really awkward that I keep --
-I know. That's why I was asking.
Mo-cap? What do you call them?
-It's a suit. It's a mo-cap suit.
-James, you got to invent a new thing instead of balls.
Yeah. Okay, yeah. So, you're wearing the suit.
-Yes.
-And then everyone's wearing the suits.
And what are you do-- are you in the --
What's the name of the room called?
-The volume. -The volume.
So, we're in the volume, okay?
Say I was cast in this and I'm with you.
We're both covered in mo-cap...things.
And we're in the -- And then -- What do you see in front of you?
Are there -- Is there --
-Other people in onesies full of balls.
[ Laughter ] -There you go.
-That's what you see in front of you, but we'll have --
-Now, are you embarrassed? -The first week.
The first week, you are getting over just how tight it is,
the wedgie that you constantly have,
how funny everybody looks in their unitard.
-Because you have to act on top of all this stuff.
-But then after you get over that discomfort,
you've been prepping for this world and this part
for so long that everything that's in front of you
just disappears and Pandora really comes to life.
So, it is, in a way, like roundabout theater.
And it's like child-like play. -Yeah.
-You know, and it's been, by far,
the most special experience of my life
in terms of my career and also, like, as a person
because it was the first time that I was ever sort of
having conversations around, like, climate change
and the environment was by being a part of "Avatar."
-Yeah, that was a big -- Yeah.
And is that another big point
in this new movie, "The Way of Water"?
-I think so.
But what's special about it,
at the center of all of this that's going on,
you get to see a lot of things that we have seen in our world
from, you know, history and what we're experiencing today.
But there's a family.
There's a family in the center of all of this.
And they just want to stay together.
They want to survive. They want to thrive.
They want to be together.
They want to raise their children.
-Yeah. -And I feel like that's
going to be the biggest takeaway.
-Yeah, because everyone can relate to that.
That's what you want to do.
I want to show a picture of just you in the --
-Oh, that was the time I took a bath with Kate Winslet
and Clifton and Sam.
-Yeah, so, how big is this bath of --
Are these different balls?
[ Laughter ]
-Those are different balls.
There are all kinds of balls on the set of "Avatar," by the way.
-So, there's ones on your arms and legs and stuff
so they know that it's you and then --
-Well, these balls were intended in the tank
so that when you put all these balls on the surface --
I can't feel comfortable saying the word "balls."
-Yeah. -But then when we're shooting
30 feet deep, we have no reflections.
It doesn't affect the lighting or anything like that.
-Oh, my gosh.
-No, Jim is a scientist. I'm telling you.
He figures all these things out. And his team.
He has an amazing team.
-So once you dive under this,
it's like diving in water and they can't see.
-Yeah.
-I mean, that right there, I would freak out.
James Cameron would fire me in two seconds.
[ Mumbling ]
He's like, "Alright. Just fire him.
Just get him out of there."
Because you have to act on top of that.
-Yes. You do have to perform. And 30 feet deep.
But we did our training.
-Can we see the dots on Zoe's face, as well?
Like, can we zoom in? -Yeah, you can see the dots.
But can you see how happy we all are?
We look like we're five years old, you guys.
Like, taking a bath together
in James', you know, bathtub, which is huge.
-When you see the film, do you go like,
"Oh, my gosh. Like...
I remember acting surprised Or acting..."
-No.
I feel like "Avatar" is so big that even for my brain
that I forget that I was a part of it
and I'm just taken into, like, this immersive experience
of what the movie is going to be.
It's going to be just as special as the first one.
You have to go see it. Just take my word for it.
It's so special.
-Yeah, I cannot wait. We have a clip.
Here's Zoe Saldana in "Avatar: The Way of Water."
Take a look at this.
-He's targeting our family. -You cannot ask this!
The children, everything they've ever known,
the forest, this is our home!
-He had our children. He had them under his knife.
♪♪
-My father gave me this bow as he lay dying,
and he said, "Protect the people."
[ Speaking Na'vi ]
-This will protect the people!
Quaritch has Spider. And that kid knows everything!
-Zoe Saldana, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ]
"Avatar: The Way of Water"
is in theaters and IMAX December 16th.
We'll be right back with James Austin Johnson.
Stick around, everybody.