{"id":365012,"date":"2025-12-22T18:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/365012\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:18:05","slug":"fire-and-ash-villain-honors-her-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/365012\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire and Ash Villain Honors Her Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers for Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

\n\tOona Chaplin<\/a> is still getting used to being the new star of a billion-dollar franchise. \u201cMy mother-in-law came to the L.A. premiere and she\u2019s never done anything like this before, and she was sitting in the back of the car like, \u2018Is it just me or does this feel really big?\u2019\u201d Chaplin says. \u201cMy manager was like, \u2018No, no, you\u2019ve pretty much started at the top. It doesn\u2019t get any bigger than this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChaplin herself did not quite start out that way. The granddaughter of cinema icon Charlie Chaplin<\/a>, she\u2019s had acting in her bones her whole life, amassing screen credits over decades after getting a job at the Globe in London fresh out of drama school. Yet while she\u2019s appeared in big projects like Game of Thrones<\/a> and Black Mirror<\/a>, she\u2019s never had a stage quite like James Cameron<\/a>\u2019s Pandora<\/a>. In Avatar: Fire & Ash, she makes for an explosive villain as Varang, the rageful leader of an aggressive Na\u2019vi tribe called Mangkwan, who\u2019ve been cast aside in their volcano dwellings and are eager to reclaim power. When she teams up with the longtime Sully nemesis Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang<\/a>) \u2014 both tactically and, in more of a surprise, romantically \u2014 she emerges as the greatest adversary to our heroes yet. Chaplin breathes fiery, chaotic life into the role.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a landmark moment for the 39-year-old actor, with the role both introducing a major new chapter in her career and prodding some reflection on what\u2019s led to it \u2014 both in work and in family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Avatar: Fire and Ash,\u2019 from left: Stephen Lang as Miles Quaritch, Oona Chaplin as Varang.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20th Century Studios\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tYour performance is so vivid, and very physical. I\u2019ve spoken with some of your castmates about the freedom they feel in the way James Cameron makes these movies through performance-capture. How did the process coincide with the way you approached Varang?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn our first day, we did the table read in the Volume on June 8, 2017.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo just the other day,<\/p>\n

\n\tThe other day, yes. It was 1746\u2026 (Laughs.) No. So we did the table read, and then very quickly after that, we all got swept away to go to Hawaii for a week of immersion. I had a feeling that it was mostly designed for the kids. They were all off in the jungle doing beautiful things together. I was left to my own devices a little bit. I did some amazing stuff in the volcano and there was something about all of it that was like, \u201cThis is odd. This feels very much like drama school.\u201d Then we came back and it was six weeks of just preparation \u2014 the parkour, the archery, martial arts, movement design, all of these different pieces. I was over the moon, I was so happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThen putting on the performance-capture suit and the helmet and then all the little pieces, it felt really easy to me. I felt very much at home. The family vibe that there is on set, there\u2019s a kind of level of intimacy there that\u2019s impossible to fake. People really know each other, love one another, support one another\u2026. And I trained in theater, so for me it was just so pleasurable to be doing something physical that required imagination. It\u2019s really like there\u2019s no camera in between the actors, because within three minutes, you forget about the helmet camera. It felt very intimate, it felt very good, it felt very safe. It felt really natural to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also just not a role you\u2019d be associated with, based on your work up to this point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, I\u2019m out of a corset! I never thought in my life looking the way that I look, that I would be in so much period drama in England. But that\u2019s been most of my career. It was really nice to just get on all fours and crawl around and just get more. My first job out of drama school was at the Globe, and while other people were rehearsing, I\u2019d be off in the corner doing weird things with my skirt and doing these circus kinds of weird things. I\u2019d just kind of be playing. The director there, Dominic Dromgoole, said, \u201cI hope one day you get a job that will allow you to do this kind of thing in the job.\u201d I\u2019ve been thinking about that comment. I think I got that job, Dominic.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople have taken note of Varang\u2019s forwardness with her sexuality, and I think a big reason why is it\u2019s just not especially common in films of this scope, with such elaborate special effects. It was fascinating watching you explore that in this kind of sandbox. It\u2019s in the script to a degree, obviously, but it\u2019s something you were clearly focused on, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I thought about this. For me, it all stems from her breaking her relationship with Eywa. Eywa is the goddess of biological life. You have this praise of the sacredness of life and the life-giving forces of the universe \u2014 so when you break ties with that and it\u2019s no longer sacred, she\u2019s perverting the life-giving forces of sexuality, of sensuality. Sex is no longer about union. It\u2019s about power. That was the shift I played. Now she uses sex as power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tZoe [Salda\u00f1a] moves from the heart with Neytiri. For Varang, we cinched \u2014 we tightened around the chest with a strap, so on the set, I had a really tight strap, which I won\u2019t do again because it really hurts. I actually messed up my body a little bit, but I asked for it. I wanted to feel that tightness around the chest. Where does the center of gravity go for me? It dropped into my pelvis, and she moves from there. That made more sense because that\u2019s where the lava of the body is. That\u2019s the heat, the volcanic energy. It related to her sexual power, to want to devour and destroy all of the things.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also a little campy at times, with you and Stephen Lang.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s totally game. I felt really safe with him. He\u2019s the person in the world that reminds me the most of my mother, which is really weird.<\/p>\n

\n\tWow. I\u2019m going to ask you to say a little bit more about that.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019re both so original and there\u2019s something of the maverick in my mom that I recognize in Slang. It\u2019s something about their sense of humor and the way that they see things. They\u2019re extremely different, but there\u2019s something in the spirit of them. Finally they met in Paris, and I was like, \u201cMom, meet the person that reminds me of you.\u201d My mom was like, \u201cHuh?\u201d But yeah, we got along really well, and I trust him implicitly. It was really also very easy to access to tap into those places because with him and with Jim \u2014 it just felt very, very safe to go large with.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tChaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20th Century Studios\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tThe movie builds toward this epic, fiery battle, and Kiri is ultimately the person who brings about Varang\u2019s defeat by finally summoning Eywa\u2019s full power. What was it like playing that and getting to that moment?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s been reacting to her environment since the trauma of the volcano. She\u2019s been in fight or flight, reactive mode \u2014 get what you need, go home, destroy this thing. Almost like she\u2019s going with the flow in a really big way. And then when she meets Quaritch, finally she\u2019s met somebody that can meet her at her level of energy. They both have a real strong code of ethics that\u2019s very compatible. And then thirdly, he brings this whole other realm of possibility and her horizons just bust open. It\u2019s amazing. He has strategy, and so she\u2019s learning from him \u2014 it\u2019s a bit like Antony and Cleopatra kind of vibe when she thinks that he\u2019s in charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThen the ships are all aflame and there\u2019s fire everywhere. Everything\u2019s just fucking awful everywhere \u2014 and she is dancing and cheering. (Laughs.) She gets off on fire and the energy of destruction and it makes her afraid \u2014 and things that make her afraid ignite her with furious determination. She welcomes the challenge because it makes her stronger. She feeds off her own fear in a way. Everything is going to shit and she\u2019s just like, \u201cWoo, this is hell of a party then.\u201d And then there\u2019s that moment with Kiri \u2014 and that\u2019s the first time that she\u2019s been unable to conquer the thing that she\u2019s afraid of, unable to surpass it, to destroy it, to feed off of it, and become bigger than it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned the feeling of drama school coming back with this film. You come from an acting family. Can you remember your first spark in wanting to do this, having been surrounded by it growing up?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMy mom\u2019s an actress. My granddad was an actor. My great-granddad was a playwright. His dad was an actor. So I\u2019m like fifth-generation, maybe more. (Laughs.) Growing up with it was just a part of my life. Telling stories was just a part of my life \u2014 there was something about the possibility of actually making a life from it that maybe not everybody has. And I resisted it because I come from a family of genius. What if I go and I do it and I\u2019m not as good? And I know it\u2019s hard and it looks like a very uncertain life. But then I did a play in my school, Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, and I just got the bug. I left the stage and I burst into tears and I was like, damn it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I get a job, I work really hard, but I didn\u2019t always try very hard to get jobs. Then there\u2019s the story of life, which also really fascinates me. I have a really rich and full life outside of work. My life is fucking cool. I\u2019m crafting it for my kids, I\u2019m crafting it for my mom. Storytelling is just a really big part of my life, and I do my darnedest to honor my lineage, my heritage, on both sides of my family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCan you connect that to the experience of making Avatar?<\/p>\n

\n\tComing into Avatar was a trip because it weaves together so many aspects of my life that I really care about that are in my heart. I live out in nature \u2014 I\u2019m turning a lawn into a food forest right now, and we\u2019re on 20 acres, and we have several families that live together and are raising our children \u2014 so nature is a part of my life. I love connecting with the cycles of time and just listening to the birds and rolling around on the ground. Indigenous culture for me is something I\u2019ve put a lot of energy and time into, because indigenous technology fascinates me, the medicines and all of the things that they can heal with plants.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen cinema and storytelling and visual effects and art and all of these things that wove together. It was a real gift for me. Jim Cameron is the most similar person that I can think of to Charlie Chaplin, even though they have very different flavors. I feel like he\u2019s got something of him in him. They\u2019re birds of a feather.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd speaking of honoring your lineage, I was thinking about the physicality of what this performance requires, in relation to your grandfather\u2019s legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, for sure. You always have to embody a character, but usually you\u2019re just embodying it [head to chest]. To be able to use my full physicality, it\u2019s definitely there \u2014 and that\u2019s something that he did better than anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains spoilers for Avatar: Fire and Ash.] Oona Chaplin is still getting used to being the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,14711,77004,447,63965,134,56129,9164,157022,68419,170893],"class_list":{"0":"post-365012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","11":"tag-black-mirror","12":"tag-celebrities","13":"tag-charlie-chaplin","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-game-of-thrones","16":"tag-james-cameron","17":"tag-oona-chaplin","18":"tag-pandora","19":"tag-stephen-lang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}