The Avatar movies are such immersive experiences when they are complete. Can you imagine what it’s like for the actors to shoot it? Well, one of the performers from the sequels has shared what it was like to be part of James Cameron’s incredibly massive undertaking, and it’s certainly understandable why her memory is fuzzy about the whole thing.
While audiences waited 13 years between the first movie and The Way of Water, and then three years for Fire and Ash, Bailey Bass had a very different experience playing the role of Tsireya on the sequels. In her words to ScreenRant:
Well, we filmed them at the same time, so it is hard to separate the two. I didn't know what was going to be in Avatar: Fire and Ash. I forgot most of the film, which is nice because I got to watch it as a fan. The three hours went by so fast because it's so action-packed. Once you sit down and the film starts, it does not stop. The adrenaline keeps going.
The production for Avatar 2 and 3 actually began back in the fall of 2017 and went on for 18 months. During that time, James Cameron was capturing footage for both The Way of Water and Fire and Ash. During an interview with CinemaBlend, Cameron told us that because the movie is shot on motion capture, it wasn’t difficult to bring the actors back in between the end of initial filming and the post production of the sequels, meaning they may have been on set a year or two ago, but it’s all mixed in with an experience that lasted nearly a decade in total.
Bailey Bass, in particular, is one of the Avatar kids who is 22 now, but was around 13 when she first stepped on the Avatar set. When she finally got to see these movies, she was watching a project that had taken place across half of her life. Crazy, right? It must have been so amazing to see the final products with the releases of The Way of Water and Fire and Ash.
Bass’s co-star Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (who’s even younger at the current age of 16) pointed out that for her, the two movies “have a different tone” so she could somewhat distinguish between them, where the cast would “get into a different zone.” One popular criticism about Avatar: Fire and Ash is that it was too similar to The Way of Water, and perhaps the fact that they were filmed at the same time has something to do with why. One way that Fire and Ash is really distinct from its predecessor is through fan-favorite character Verang, the violent leader of the Mangkwan clan or ash people.
James Cameron is hoping to make two more Avatar movies following Fire and Ash, but that will depend on the movie’s success. The movie finally fell off No. 1 last weekend after five weeks, with a reported $1.38 billion worldwide gross so far, making it a huge hit, but is it enough? Time will tell, but for now, you can still check out the movie now playing in theaters.
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