Avatar: Way Of Water Spider Scenes All Had To Be Filmed Twice

James Cameron reveals that, since Spider is a live-action character, actor Jack Champion had to do all of his Avatar: The Way of Water scenes twice.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Avatar: The Way of Water.

Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron reveals that Spider actor Jack Champion had to essentially do his entire performance twice during different filming sessions. Released 13 years after the record-breaking original film, Avatar: The Way of Water continues the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), who now have 3 children. In addition to Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and Tuk (Trinity Bliss), Jake and Neytiri also essentially serve as the adoptive parents of Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), a Na'vi mysteriously born from Grace Augustine's avatar, and Spider, a human child who is revealed to be the son of villain Miles Quaritch.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair discussing the cinematography challenges that come with Avatar: The Way of Water's unique production methods, Cameron reveals that Champion had to do his entire performance twice, years apart. Since Spider is a live-action human character who is interacting CGI Na'vi characters, Cameron explains that Champion had to be there as a reference and scene partner when actors like Worthington, Saldaña, and Lang were doing their performance capture, but then he had to return to do his performance again for the actual live-action photography element of the production. Check out Cameron's full comment below:

"Well, the beauty was, we got to do it twice. So [cinematographer Russell Carpenter] would light the scene, so everything that we did with Jack photographically, we did previously with him in terms of capture. So, Jack did his entire performance twice, once for all the other actors like Sigourney [Weaver] and Britain [Dalton] and Sam [Worthington], so that he was there kind of off camera. And he was like 13 at the time. And then later when we shot, he was 15, so he changed in size and vocal range a bit, but we capped him and then we had these capture scenes."

Related: Spider's Shocking Decision Creates 2 Major Avatar 3 Problems

Although it was initially unclear how important Spider would be to Avatar's overarching story, Cameron's most recent sequel suggests he could play an integral role going forward. As human Quaritch's son, Spider makes Na'vi Quaritch a much more nuanced and empathetic character. On several occasions, Quaritch shows real compassion for Spider, putting an end to General Ardmore's (Edie Falco) torture of him and later giving up Kiri, his hostage, to secure Spider's safety. Instead of the ruthless, mostly one-note villain featured in the original Avatar, Na'vi Quaritch now clearly has the capacity to change due to the responsibility and even love he feels for his non-biological son.

After Quaritch is defeated and left to drown at the end of Avatar: The Way of Water, Spider makes the crucial decision to save him. This means that not only is Quaritch guaranteed to return in Avatar 3, but Spider clearly cares about him to some degree. After Neytiri threatens to kill Spider in order to secure Kiri's release, Spider could end up feeling alienated from his adoptive Sully parents, potentially pushing him closer to Quaritch in Avatar 3. Although Spider chooses not to accompany Quaritch at the end of the most recent sequel and instead returns to the Sully family, it's possible that Neytiri's surprising actions could actually cause him to question his loyalties.

Spider doesn't totally fit in with the humans and the RDA, but he also doesn't totally belong with the Na'vi either, leaving the character in a unique position heading into Avatar 3. Although they parted ways at the end of Avatar: The Way of Water, Spider and Quaritch will almost certainly meet again, potentially opening both characters up to significant change and evolution. It's still unclear how Spider will feature into the upcoming sequel, but Champion's character seems poised to play a crucial role in the events to come as the war between the humans and the Na'vi intensifies.

More: Avatar 3 Is Completely Reversing The First Avatar's Formula

Source: Vanity Fair