Sigourney Weaver has addressed fan concerns about a scene in Avatar: Fire and Ash, in which her character kisses her teenage co-star, saying the concern was “legitimate”. In the film, Weaver stars as a teenage Na’vi named Kiri, having originally played human scientist Grace Augustine in James Cameron’s 2009 film.
Weaver returned for the sequels as Kiri, who was cloned from Grace’s avatar and adopted by Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña).
In the threequel, Weaver’s character develops a love interest in a teenage human named Spider (Jack Champion), son of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and the pair eventually share a kiss.
Some audiences were worried about how the scene had been filmed, as Champion was between the ages of 14 and 16 while playing Spider, and Weaver was in her seventies.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Weaver said she and her co-star filmed the scene separately and she never intended to share the scene with Champion.
20th Century Studios
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“That scene where I say, ‘You’re perfect just as you are,’ we had to be very delicate about that scene because it included a kiss. Obviously, I wasn’t going to kiss Jack, who was 14 or 15, in real life,” she confirmed.
Weaver continued: “We asked Jack to pick someone I could kiss and he did. Then I imagine when I wasn’t there, they picked someone appropriate for Jack.
“That concern about all of that, which is quite legitimate, was going on. And I’m glad the scene survived, because when I saw it, I believed it. It’s so genuine between the two of them and any concern about Jack’s real age and my real age, I think there’s no room for it there.”
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Related: Here’s when Avatar: Fire and Ash will be available to watch on Disney+
While they may have filmed the kissing scene separately, Weaver confirmed that this was the only time, saying: “It was only that one moment.”
Opening up about her character’s relationship with Spider, she added: “It was like a little vacation whenever we had a scene because we’re frolicking. It’s kind of a time off for me because she’s so deliriously happy; she enjoys his company so much.
“I don’t know how tall I’m supposed to be, like 6’4, and he’s what, 5’8 or something, and I tower over him — and you can really see it in the film. Being a tall woman myself, height doesn’t matter at all. I love that we’re mismatched. It’s perfect.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash is out now in cinemas.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.Â
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.Â
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.