James Cameron is known for pushing the envelope in filmmaking by doing some difficult projects, like the ship in Titanic or using advanced technology to innovate on CGI characters and worlds in Avatar. In an interview with Variety, Cameron and costume Deborah Lynn Scott talked about making the costumes for Avatar: The Way of Water.
Scott and Cameron revealed that some costumes in Avatar 2 took roughly 200 hours “per garment” to make. That did not include the time of having conversations about what some characters should wear, particularly the alien race, the Na’vi. Scott noted that it “depends” on which piece you were talking about, but through 3D printing and “real, handcrafted” work made go through the long hours.
“With the Na’vi world, I think on average it took around 200 hours per garment,” Scott said. “That was without the research time before that to decide if it was going to be a real shell, 3D-printed shell or laminate shell.”
The blockbuster series is known for its CGI and the technology used to create this immersive world. For Scott, she found that 3D printing had its uses but thought going by hand and using people offered better results.
Behind the process of the costumes of Avatar: The Way of Water
As mentioned by Scott, research and discussions would be required for the costumes seen in the Avatar sequel. In some cases, Cameron disagreed with how things would look when underwater. Scott defended some choices for being “pretty.” So, he showed his wife, who would say she’d “wear that,” making Cameron give in to the wishes of the two women. As Scott put those results, she said, “We proved that it could work underwater.”
It has been over a decade since the 2009 movie. It is uncertain if all five movies will get made to complete the story in Cameron’s mind. The director has proven to make big bucks with his films, as the sequel is over half a billion since its December 16 release date. The third entry will hit theaters on December 20, 2024.