{"id":362504,"date":"2025-12-22T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/362504\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:40:09","slug":"james-cameron-on-casting-oona-chaplin-in-avatar-fire-and-ash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/362504\/","title":{"rendered":"James Cameron on casting Oona Chaplin in ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most dazzling elements of director James Cameron<\/a>\u2018s \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>\u201d is not a new alien world or piece of weaponry, but a performance: that of Oona Chaplin, whose work as vengeful antagonist Varang is on a par with other iconic Cameron<\/a> villains like Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s Terminator. <\/p>\n

When Cameron cast Chaplin in \u201cFire and Ash\u201d nearly 10 years ago, he didn\u2019t know anything about her Hollywood lineage and wasn\u2019t familiar with her work \u2014 he just knew she had the talent and sensibility to embody his newest creation. \u201cI didn\u2019t know who she was,\u201d Cameron said on an upcoming episode of IndieWire\u2019s Filmmaker Toolkit<\/a> podcast<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think she had done \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 yet, or at the very least I hadn\u2019t seen it. I didn\u2019t even realize that she was the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"THE<\/a> \"'Bug<\/a> <\/p>\n

At the time, Cameron was meeting with actors who were far more well known than Chaplin for the part, but his gut told him she was his Varang. \u201cI was seeing women whose names you would know instantly, who were already stars and people that I had really wanted to work with,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cIt was a hard decision to turn against faces and names that I already knew, but Oona surprised me with her perception of the character, her way of moving, and her utter fearlessness. And she was well-prepared \u2014 she knew the scene cold, and it was seven or eight pages.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the audition process, Cameron worked with Chaplin for hours on one scene, trying it out in different ways to get a sense of how they would work together. \u201cWe probably spent more time on that scene than an episodic procedural would have to actually shoot it,\u201d Cameron said, noting that, in his experience, auditioning actors is far different from what people have been led to believe by movies and TV shows about filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see it in movies, there are a bunch of people sitting like the panel of dance judges in \u2018Flashdance,’\u201d Cameron said. \u201cSomebody comes in and reads the scene, and they say, \u2018Thank you for coming in,\u2019 and they walk out. I don\u2019t know how other people do it, but I don\u2019t work that way. I schedule a minimum of a half-hour with anybody that I\u2019m interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, Cameron whittles his selections for each part down to five or six actors based on recommendations and audition tapes, and not only meets with them but tries to create some of the circumstances that will be replicated on set. \u201cI want to see what their affect is and how they might look on camera,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cI operate myself with an HD camera, and we do a little bit of lighting. Nothing elaborate, just a little that\u2019s kind and models the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron then brings in performers from the acting troupe that he uses on the \u201cAvatar\u201d movies to fill out the various supporting and cameo roles, and has them play scenes opposite the actor auditioning. \u201cI want to see what [the actor\u2019s] impulse is, so \u200afirst I let them play it their way with what they\u2019ve prepared, maybe with an acting coach or maybe just their own imagination,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I want to see how they can volley with me, so I just start throwing little things to them to see if they can catch that and run with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process teaches Cameron whether the actor will be able to discover new things throughout the filmmaking process, or if it begins and ends with what they\u2019ve prepared for the audition. \u201cSome actors are very rigid,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cThey can only do it the way they\u2019re prepared. Other actors are completely fluid. I want to see if it\u2019s somebody that I can work with and communicate with and drive toward a creative conclusion.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the process, Cameron often finds that the script itself evolves according to the discoveries made during auditions. \u201cI actually learn something about the scene myself, seeing it stood up for the first time,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cI love finding somebody that I can work with to improve the scene.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cameron credited Chaplin with an abundance of ideas that made their way into \u201cFire and Ash,\u201d from influences she brought from her indigenous background to her character\u2019s signature weapon, and he says that\u2019s the kind of input he\u2019s always looking for when he meets with an actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan they bring some creativity to it? If I feel that, then I\u2019m much more likely to cast them,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cI want to see who they are as a person. Do they have a sense of humor? Can they hear what I\u2019m saying?\u201d <\/p>\n

According to Cameron, when it comes to whether or not a movie will work, the die is often cast during this vital part of the filmmaking process, and that\u2019s why he auditions so carefully. \u201cI\u2019ve learned that the biggest mistake that you can make on a movie is not going over schedule or over budget or making visual or design mistakes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the casting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>\u201d is currently in theaters.\u00a0To hear the entire conversation with James Cameron<\/a> and make sure you don\u2019t miss a single episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on\u00a0Apple<\/a>,\u00a0Spotify<\/a>, or your favorite podcast platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most dazzling elements of director James Cameron\u2018s \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d is not a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5960,49,48,75,1554,10085,31810,5961,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-362504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-film","13":"tag-filmmaker-toolkit","14":"tag-filmmaker-toolkit-podcast","15":"tag-james-cameron","16":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}