James Cameron has said he thinks Kate Winslet was a “bit traumatized” after filming Titanic.
In the 1997 Blockbuster picture directed by Cameron, Winslet played Rose opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack. She was 22 years old at the time.
The actor and director are reuniting for the much-anticipated sequel to his 2009 film Avatar, which is due out later this month.
“I think Kate came out of ‘Titanic’ a bit traumatized by the scale of the production and her responsibility within it,” Cameron told the Radio Times, according to the Daily Mail. “We’ve both been eager over time to work together again, to see what the other is about at this point in our lives and careers. She’s very large and in charge on set. You’d swear she was producing the film.”
While promoting “Titanic” way back then, Winslet told reporters that Cameron “has a temper like you wouldn’t believe” and that “there were times I was genuinely frightened of him.” She spoke of 90-hour work weeks and contracting hypothermia after long periods spent filming in freezing waters. At the time, Winslet even stated: “You’d have to pay me a lot of money to work with Jim again.
The “Mare of Easttown” actor, however, recently told The Telegraph that while the Titanic set was “tough,” Cameron is a “genius” and appears to be a little more chill these days.
“I loved doing Avatar with Jim—he is much more calm now. In those days there was no space for him to say, ‘It might not work.’ He had to make it work. There were all those conversations about this huge film, Titanic. I can’t imagine the pressure. As we get older we learn how to say, ‘I made a mistake.’ We all get better at that, don’t we”
The Way of Water is the first of four planned Avatar sequels that Cameron will release every other year until 2028.
It will be released in cinemas – in 3D – on 16 December.
