Sigourney Weaver wanted to play an 'awkward' character in Avatar sequel
Sigourney Weaver made costume changes to her 'Avatar: The Way of Water' character Kiri as she wanted the teenager to be "awkward".
Sigourney Weaver made her 'Avatar: The Way of Water' character more "awkward".
The 73-year-old actress will play the adolescent Kiri in the long-awaited sci-fi sequel and revealed that she wanted to add some "awkwardness" to the character's look
Sigourney, who played the role of Dr. Grace Augustine in the original 'Avatar' film, told Vanity Fair's 'Little Gold Men' podcast: "I had a very early conversation with Jim (Cameron, director) about this, and he was very already committed to this kind of character, but who she was, what she was about was something we talked about at the beginning.
"When I first saw the pictures of my character, she was so perfect, every hair in place. And I said, 'Jim, when you're a 13, 14-year-old girl, that is not how you feel about yourself.'
"I was this tall when I was 11, so I was just like a big spider moving around, knocking things over. And I felt that it was a more difficult time for Kiri, especially because the family is uprooted in the beginning."
The 'Alien' star worked together with the costume designers to make Kiri "awkward" and explained how she drew on her teenage experiences to bring the character to life on screen.
Sigourney said: "I got together with the designers or the drawers and just brought some awkwardness. That's what he ended up calling it now, 'awkward Kiri', as opposed to 'perfect Kiri'.
"For better or worse, my awkward, self-conscious teenager was able to flow right into Kiri, and I had to work in a completely different way, which is kind of letting it flow into me, letting her – I don't know that any of us is very far removed from our adolescent moment, because it certainly stands out in bold relief for a lot of people.
"I'm not sure how far I've gotten away from my teenager, but Jim said to me, 'You can do this. You're so immature. This is about how old you are anyway.'"
