Sam Worthington faced the fear of dying: which scenes from Avatar 2 gave the actor “headaches”

Avatar: The Way of Water star Sam Worthington says the film’s underwater scenes were his biggest challenge yet.

The Avatar sequel comes more than a decade after the original film originally hit theaters in 2009. James Cameron returns to the director’s chair for this film. Joining him returning are Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver (albeit as a different character) and Stephen Lang. Avatar 2 will also add new actors to the cast, including Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh and Oona Chaplin.

As the title suggests, water is an important element in the new film and is computer-generated, which has already been praised by VFX artists based on the film’s trailer. Even though the water in the film was made using CGI technology, the actors still had to film underwater scenes to reproduce certain aspects as realistically as possible.

These underwater sequences pushed the lead actors in Avatar: The Way of Water to push their limits. For example, Kate Winslet held her breath for seven and a half minutes for one scene in Avatar 2, breaking Tom Cruise’s record. However, Kate Winslet admitted in an interview that these scenes were excruciating.

Sam Worthington also pushed his limits in Avatar 2, but it wasn’t easy.

According to Worthington, the “constraints” and apnea problem he has, as well as other details, add extra difficulty to the underwater scenes. While the actor tried to maintain his composure under the constraints mentioned, he would also struggle with the “fear of dying” trying to hold his breath underwater for quite some time.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. You’re dealing with the restrictions of apnea, the constraints of capturing movement underwater, and trying to maintain emotional stability while innately struggling with the fear of dying,” said Avatar star Sam Worthington.