Stephen Lang: “In Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5, Quaritch continues to grow” [interview]

The ultimate incarnation of the bastard, crazy predator and remorseless Na'vis killer, Colonel Quaritch is back in Avatar: The Way of Water. But this time, Stephen Lang dons the costume of the men in blue. To better massacre them?

Two years after its great success in theaters, Avatar: The Way of Water finally arrives unencrypted on television. See you Sunday evening on TF1 to (re)watch James Cameron's captivating blockbuster. In which a character evolves in a surprising way: Quaritch, the big bad from the first opus. At the end of 2022, his interpreter Stephen Lang (“Slang” for close friends) had precisely confided in First.

Avatar 2: How do you shoot underwater in performance capture?

First: What happens in your mind at the moment you realize thatAvatar will finally have a sequel?
Stephen Lang : Oh boy. I knew Quaritch was coming back, because James [Cameron] announced it to me. But he didn't specify anything! I figured it was either a flashback or a prequel. Perhaps a focus on Earth, linked in some way to the GDR, before the events of the first Avatar… In fact I didn't know anything about it at all, I was in complete darkness. And then one evening, over dinner in Malibu, he begins to tell me the whole story. I listen to him wisely, and then I understand that my role could well be as central as in the first film… The shock! And when I was finally able to read the script for The Way of Waterit was as cool as discovering the one in the original. I was sure I would never get that feeling again, the certainty of having received the best role in the film. This is probably what makes me effective in Quaritch. But hey, I imagine Sam Worthington says the same thing about Jake Sully! In any case, it's always a good sign to have the impression that you are at the heart of the project. And the miracle is that in Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5, Quaritch continues to grow in breadth and depth. The character no longer moves in a straight line like in the first Avatar.

That's to say ?
There are things I won't tell you. If I start to go into detail… It’s Pandora’s box, no pun intended! In any case, its mission could not be clearer: eliminate the insurrection on Pandora which threatens the GDR. They come back, but they haven't learned anything, unlike my character: if ten tons of bombs didn't do the job the first time, then they show up with twenty tons. (Laughter.) Quaritch has a maverick side; he does things his way. So he's going to go solo and that's going to affect the relationship between Quaritch and Sully, Quaritch and the Na'vi, but also Quaritch and the RDA. I love the tension it generates.

Quaritch inherits a Na'vi body in this sequel, which explains his return. We imagine that the motion capture should still change your performance quite a bit from a physical point of view.
Yes, in the original it was me in live action pretty much the whole time, except at the end when I'm wearing the AMP and fighting with Jake. There, I have to play EVERYTHING in performance capture, on land and in the water. It's fascinating and exhausting. You must become one with the equipment: the suit and the helmet are part of you, and therefore you incorporate it into the character. No choice, it's almost becoming normal in fact. But the hardest part was staying underwater for a very long time. We trained with the best divers in the world, guys who push you to the limits of your abilities, but who always make sure you're safe. The cast got pretty good at this little game, but some were better than others. In this case, Kate Winslet must be half mermaid, there is no other explanation! (Laughter.) But it's not bad to struggle, because Quaritch is not a character “water”. And when he finds himself there, he prefers to get out of there as quickly as possible. In a lot of scenes, I'm just trying to pull myself out and get back on dry land!

But this change in body must have an impact on the way you move?
Completely. I am a better version of myself, bigger, bluer. But Quaritch will always be Quaritch, whether he's human or 12 feet tall. We need to find commonalities in the way we move. In fact, it plays out more on a psychological level – which still has an impact on his movements. To repeat what I told you earlier, Quaritch moved in a straight line and at right angles, metaphorically and literally. And that's part of why he was beaten. The world of Pandora is not square, it is made of curves, it is fluid, it changes all the time. To hope to fit in, you have to adapt. My character is capable of doing this, without totally sacrificing who he was and what also made him strong. He's still a dogmatic guy, a bit rigid, but he manages to incorporate the flexibility that Pandora requires. And that makes him a better enemy than before.

Few films have used 3D as AvatarCameron having understood better than the others how to use it. On the set, can his attention to detail give rise to complications for the actors?
Sometimes, yes. There may be pure technical requirements. And what happens in those moments is Jim shouts ” CUT! “, and he has a 20 minute to two hour discussion with the technical team to resolve the problem (Laughter.) Afterwards, for me, an actor, it doesn’t change much: “ Do I have to put myself there rather than here for the 3D to render well? Okay, let's do this. » Except that with Cameron, 3D is not just another director's tool. No one understood its possibilities like him. We have seen quite a few films that use it to surprise the viewer, to throw objects in their face. Of course, there is also that in Avatarbut Jim focuses on immersion, that's the difference. He told the audience: “ Come. Enter this world. » It's an invitation.

Avatarit was thirteen years ago. Have you wondered about James Cameron's ability to reproduce the effect of astonishment so long later?
It’s almost a ready-made expression: “ Never bet against James Cameron » ! And we understand this from reading his screenplays, which he writes like novels. It shocked me when I discovered the first one Avatar. That is to say, he did not write: “ There is a chase “. It took three pages to tell what was happening! The film had exactly – with a few changes, obviously – the same density and precision. From then on, I never had any doubts about James Cameron again. Was he going to be able to reproduce that later? Obviously. He's someone who will draw on everyone's resources: scientists, engineers, animators, doctors, gardeners, linguists… He absorbs everything, and that gives the world of Pandora. My faith in him has only grown over the years.

Trailer:

Avatar: The Way of Water leaves the mystery hanging over Kiri's (spoiler)