In Avatar, Sigourney Weaver originally played Dr. Grace Augustine. But later, she slipped into a teenage role of Kiri in Way of Water and Fire and Ash.
Playing the role of a 15-year-old for a woman who is 76 is quite a challenge for the actress, as she previously revealed.
But in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she weighs in on the arc of Kiri, Jake, and Neytiri's adopted daughter, in the latest installment.
"She comes of age. All the kids do because mom and dad are busy; they have their own issues going on. We’re suddenly thrown out on our own and we are forced to learn to trust ourselves and each other and encourage squabbling," the actress began.
She continues, "Kiri is put in a very uncomfortable position of having to do something she doesn’t feel she can do, doesn’t want to do — she doesn’t want to risk her best friend’s life. She has to just follow her instincts."
"It’s almost like she doesn’t have time to continue to angst about feeling different from everybody else, like she can’t really get her feet on the ground until she knows who her father is — until she knows just more about what’s going on with Eywa. She has to give up all of that and help her family and survive," Sigourney adds.
"They pass through this crucible, and I think it changes them," she notes. "That moment where Kiri finally gets to protect Neytiri is a big deal for me."
"At the beginning of [Way of Water], I physically felt that Kiri was just sort of, “Mom! Stop!” Having a teenage daughter is a very different experience. I probably did shock Zoe," the Alien star says.
"I heard her say to a reporter, “If I said red, she said blue. If I said yes, she said no.” Anyway, that moment where I can finally protect my mother after so many years of her protecting me was very meaningful to me…. Her pain is real."
"I think it’s her trying to make sense of a world and her place in it when nothing she sees does make sense. Children see things and feel things so strongly," Sigourney concludes.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is playing in cinemas.
