Actress Kate Winslet has beaten Hollywood star Tom Cruise's record for holding breath underwater, during one of her scenes in the much-anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water. The actress, who plays Ronal in James Cameron's sequel, stayed underwater for seven minutes and 15 seconds.
Cruise previously held the record with his six-minute breath-holding while filming a stunt for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. “It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I’ll probably never be able to do it again,” Winslet was quoted as saying.
Sharing her experience at a global press conference ahead of the launch of Avatar 2, Winslet revealed she has a video of herself emerging from the underwater scene and asking 'Am I dead? Have I died?'.” She added that she has the video only because of her husband who “snuck in” during the shoot despite her telling him not to do so. Winslet said she had requested her husband not to come to watch her film the difficult scene as it would put more pressure on her.
Speaking about her character Ronal earlier, Winslet said: “She is the female leader. Goddess of the water tribe, who the Sully family run to for sanctuary. She is a matriarch, so Ronal and Neytiri come up against each other because you know you can’t have two matriarchs.”
According to reports, Cameron had the Avatar 2 cast undergo rigorous training to hold their breaths underwater for several minutes. Speaking to the Screen Rant earlier, actress Sigourney Weaver said they trained with elite military divers.
The Avatar sequel reunites Winslet with director Cameron after the 1997 epic Titanic. Also starring Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang among others, Avatar: The Way of Water releases in theatres on December 16.