- Kate Winslet spoke to USA Today about her role in "Avatar: The Way of the Water."
- Winslet held her breath underwater for seven minutes, beating a record previously held by Tom Cruise.
Kate Winslet held her breath underwater for more than seven minutes in "Avatar: The Way of the Water," breaking a record previously held by Tom Cruise.
Winslet shared details with USA Today as James Cameron's "Avatar" sequel hit theaters on Friday. Winslet stars alongside Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Weaver, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Sigourney Weaver, and more in "Avatar: The Way of the Water."
Winslet told the outlet she trained and learned how to free dive ahead of the film, which allowed her to remain underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds.
Her time officially broke a record set by Cruise, who held his breath underwater for six minutes while filming "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" in 2015.
"Poor Tom," the actress told USA Today. "I mean, I don't know Tom at all – I've never met him in my life – but I'm sure he's getting very fed up of hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. ... I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better."
In the same interview, Weaver – who appeared in both "Avatar" films – added that she held her breath for six minutes and 30 seconds.
"We were delighted for Kate that she did that," Weaver said. "My husband (theater director Jim Simpson) and I both did 6 ½ minutes, which was astonishing to us and our teacher, Kirk Krack, who teaches the Navy SEALs. Everyone had a personal best."
In December, Cameron told ComicBook.com that the special effects in "Avatar 2" were better than Marvel films.
"Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we're doing… Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw this movie. It's not even close. It's what Weta did," he told the outlet.