Sigourney Weaver Explains How Avatar 3 Filmed Kiri’s Big Kiss

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The following contains a minor spoiler for Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Reviews for Avatar: Fire and Ash are generally positive, though not overwhelmingly so, and the film had a strong opening weekend at the box office, though not as successful as previous Avatar movies. While the visual spectacle isn’t quite as breathtaking as it once was, the third film does improve the character development and explores interesting relationships, particularly between Spider and Kiri.

A romantic connection develops between Kiri, a Na’vi character played by Sigourney Weaver, and Spider, a human character played by Jack Champion, in Avatar: Fire and Ash. As both characters are teenagers within the story, their relationship feels natural. However, Sigourney Weaver is, of course, much older than a teenager. She recently told The Hollywood Reporter how the scene where Kiri first kisses Spider was filmed.

The scene with the line, ‘You’re perfect just as you are,’ required a lot of careful handling because it involved a kiss. Of course, I wasn’t going to actually kiss Jack, who was only 14 or 15. We let Jack choose someone I could kiss, and then the filmmakers made sure that person was appropriate for him when I wasn’t around. It was important to address those concerns, and I’m happy the scene made it into the final cut. When I watched it, the connection between the characters felt very real, and any worry about our ages didn’t even cross my mind.

Sigourney Weaver claims the actors’ ages weren’t a factor in that scene, but I disagree. I found myself very aware of the age difference between the actors while watching Avatar: Fire and Ash, and it briefly pulled me out of the movie. I wasn’t sure how old Jack Champion was supposed to be, and that made me question what was happening on screen.

Okay, so if you’re a movie fan like me, you probably already know Disney+ is where it’s at for the Avatar films. They’ve got a new plan starting at just $11.99 a month, but it does have ads. If you want to skip the ads, it’s $18.99 a month, or you can save a bit of money and pay $189.99 upfront for the whole year. I’m thinking about that yearly option myself!

Despite everything, the scene is actually quite effective. Even though you might logically recognize the age difference, it doesn’t feel jarring. The impressive motion capture technology largely succeeds in making Kiri seem like a genuine teenager throughout most of the scene.

The actors didn’t share a real kiss during the scene, which was probably a good decision given the situation. Weaver explained this was the one moment in the film where she wasn’t directly interacting with the other performers. Because the movie relies so heavily on computer-generated imagery and motion capture, it’s often hard to tell what was actually filmed versus created digitally.

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2025-12-23 02:08