‘Avatar’ star Sam Worthington: ‘I get to work with the most visionary director there is’

When Sam Worthington was plucked from relative obscurity to play the hero in James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) franchise, in many ways he was an unlikely choice. The fantasy epic was to be Cameron’s first feature film since the release of his 1997 juggernaut Titanic,and so, naturally, the lead role of Jake Sully attracted a host of Hollywood’s leading men, including major stars like Jake Gyllenhaal, Matt Damon, Chris Evans, Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt. Worthington, an unknown actor living in his car at the time, beat them all to the punch, because, so the story goes, Cameron felt Worthington was the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with. The Australian actor’s bond with the Terminator filmmaker would prove to be one of the most consequential relationships of his life, and one which he holds in extremely high esteem.  

Worthington and his castmates could not have predicted when they first began work on the project that nearly 20 years later, they would still be so far from its completion. However, due to delays related to the development of new underwater filming technology and plans to shoot a further two films in the series, the first sequel, 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water,and Avatar: Fire and Ash only began shooting, concurrently, in 2017 – a decade after the first film went into production.  

Speaking before the UK release of Avatar: Fire and Ash on 19 December, Worthington reveals that the delays have never frustrated him. “It’s never been something I’ve actually really worried about. I get to work with, arguably, the most visionary director there is – the more time I get to spend with that guy, the better,” he says, speaking over video call from Los Angeles, though he typically splits his time between homes in New York and Australia. A subtle character, he becomes notably more animated when he is effusing about his director. 

The actor also reveals that he tries to follow Cameron’s measured, patient approach to filmmaking. “He doesn’t kind of go in with any idea of, ‘Well, this is going to take this amount of time.’ He’s so dedicated to it that time kind of disappears when you make these movies, to be honest,” he adds. “You’re not beholden by these time limits. You’re just beholden by trying to tell the best story that you can.” 

All the same, the gap between filming and the release must be frustrating, I suggest to the Aussie heartthrob. After all, shooting has continued for years since the initial production kicked off in 2017. “You go away and do other movies, but then you keep coming back,” Worthington says, unbothered by the gulf in between the start and end points of the colossal project.  

“I think even this year, I was doing stuff on it, so it’s not like you disappear. We get to go and do other projects while Jim keeps making and putting it together, but we always come in and out. I always say it’s like we’re doctors on call. We get called to come back in,” he continues. “So, you’ve always got some connective tissue to it.” 

After spending the guts of two decades working with Cameron, it would seem that the filmmaker’s perfectionism has rubbed off on his leading man. “You don’t want to pull the chicken out of the oven when it’s undercooked; you want to get it perfect,” Worthington posits. “Jim always wants to get to that point, because he understands that’s the demand, and what he should be offering audiences is something perfect.” 

Nevertheless, a lot of life happens in 18 years. Since Worthington began his Avatar journey, he’s covered a lot of ground. He rose to global fame after the release of the first film and dealt with the many trials and tribulations that level of attention brings. He married his wife, Australian model and TV personality Lara Bingle, and became a father to their three sons. He’s battled addiction and achieved sobriety. And, somewhat astoundingly, in addition to his ongoing Avatar commitments, he’s somehow managed to star in over 30 other films. Despite his prolific career, the actor reveals that he feels he’s only recently mastered the art of acting.  

“I’ve always looked at it like the last 20 years, I’ve just been learning how to act,” he admits. “A musician can jam with their friends and make crap songs, and eventually they’re going to have great songs that they can release on an album. I don’t have that privilege. I can only learn my craft by making a movie that unfortunately gets to go out,” he goes on. “So within those 20 years, you kind of do some songs that don’t work, play some notes that sound off. But I’ve just been learning my craft over the last 20, 25, years, and now I’m at a point where I’m getting an understanding of what kind of music I want to make.” 

The star’s acting chops have certainly been put to the test on recent Avatar sequels. Playing Jake Sully, a former marine who ultimately goes on to serve as a leader of the Na’vi, the now iconic tribe of blue-skinned creatures for which the franchise is best known, has required Worthington to wear many guises: confused human, valiant leader, family man andgrieving father. “This one’s about resilience, it’s about fighting for what you love,” the actor says. “In the last movie, it was all about, ‘This is my fortress. My family is what I need to protect.’ Well, he didn’t protect it. He lost his son. The fortress got crumbled.”  

Worthington elaborates, “So what you’re seeing is a love story that’s been affected in probably the most horrendous way, and the struggle to get it back.” 

The emotion Worthington had to tap into in order to portray Sully’s grief for his son was an intimidating prospect for the father of three. “I was saying to Jim the other day, ‘If the other movie was about taking us to the depths of the ocean, this one is taking us to the depths of emotion.’ That was the scary bit on this one: how far we all had to push ourselves individually to make the movie about that,” he reveals. “It’s about this deeper well that we’re digging from in order to keep pushing this familiar story along.” 

Another actor whose life has changed enormously since Avatar first hit theatres in 2009 is Worthington’s most frequent scene partner and his character’s love interest, Zoe Saldaña, who just last year saw her career soar to new heights when she nabbed the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the controversial musical drama Emilia Pérez. However, the changing fates of his castmates’ careers bear absolutely no impact on the dynamic that has been cultivated among them over the past two decades. “It doesn’t [change things]; you always leave your egos at the door,” he responds resolutely. 

Though he remains patient, Worthington is certainly keen to share Fire and Ash with the world. “I saw some of it yesterday, and it blew me away – and I’m in it!” he tells me with a laugh, before circling back to once again credit Cameron’s auteur touch. “As I said, Jim is this visionary director who knows how to take emotion and push it to a whole new level – and not just the technology.”