Avatar’s habit of breaking records is not coming to an end any time soon, last monday it broke the UK record for the biggest opening-day sales of a Blu-ray disc, selling 222,824 copies, which was more copies in one day than what the previous record-holder The Dark Knight sold in its first week. I’m sure the first week totals are going to be ridiculous. Check out my interview with the legendary and lovely Sigourney Weaver for Avatar’s DVD/Blu-Ray release below.

What was it like working with James Cameron again?

Sigourney Weaver: I found it less intense than in ALIENS, maybe because we’re both older now. He was much more relaxed this time; he was like a kid in the candy store. The hours were long and everything took longer than expected. But it has been such an adventure and I think because I did work with him before, it was wonderful, I know him well. We picked up where we left off, except I think he’s merrier now, he’s happy, he has kids and a family and he was so excited about working on AVATAR and working with each of us.

What kind of director is he?

Sigourney Weaver: Very intense but wonderful. Jim is always so generous, finding out what we want to try with each scene, or what we think about our characters. He is a very gentle, encouraging director who always makes you feel good about what you are doing. He has worked so hard to create this entire world for AVATAR, the whole concept, the creatures, everything. It is amazing, because Jim actually invented the cameras that shot this movie, he shot every frame. I remember reading the script and thinking that it was just so incredibly ambitious. I’m just so thrilled for him, that he’s pulled it off, you know. He’s done the impossible, which was to create this other world, it is an entirely different way of life. And that’s such an amazing accomplishment. I hope he had a good time doing it.

What was the most challenging aspect of the work for you?

Sigourney Weaver: The challenging part was the motion capture work, you do have to pretend it is Pandora, because you are acting on an empty stage, you have to use your imagination. It is all about being very specific, because you might just have a stick or a feather to react to.

Can you talk about your character’s journey in this film?

Sigourney Weaver: When you meet Grace, she’s working for a company that she hates and hoping to work with Jake’s brother, because he is a very promising scientist and she wants him to help her crack this mystery about Pandora, so she can get the corporation (who are mining on Pandora) to stop mining and protect this world she loves so much. When it turns out that Tommy is dead and has been replaced with Jake (Sam Worthington) she is furious, because she discovers that this ex marine clearly has not got a scientific bone in his body. So during the course of the story, she goes from a difficult position, working for a company that she hates, to trying to break through to find the science she needs that will wake them up to what they’re doing. In the course of the story, she is thrown together with Jake again and again. I think they both fall in love with Pandora and he ends up really teaching Grace how to fight.

What’s the theme of this movie for you?

Sigourney Weaver: I think it’s a story about a young man who comes of age and who finds something to fight for. Avatar is a great love story and it’s the story of a modern conflict. It is a conflict between what you love, what you have to do and what you believe in vs. what people are telling you to do. So it’s a very rich story with creatures and places and huge battles. There is nothing modern and cynical about this story. In many ways it reminds me of my favorite classic films. I used to love the feeling of settling into my seat in the theater and then it would say: ‘David Lean Presents’ or something like that and you would know that you were going to a place that would be extraordinary and that something was going to happen to you that you would be thinking about for days to come and I feel like AVATAR is that kind of movie.

You were essentially the first female action star; do you feel that you changed everything for actresses in some ways?

Sigourney Weaver: Well I think that if it hadn’t been me it would have obviously been another actress (laughs). I really loved the character Ripley (ALIEN). I still see the woman who inspired me to play Ripley, she’s awesome. She works as an environmentalist actually. At the time I played Ripley, women were entering the work force and were taking on jobs only men had done before, in the armed forces and in industry, so I think it was the right time for that to happen. But I am really glad that I got to be a part of that. What I love about Ripley is that I was allowed to play a woman as a complicated character, without a man, without anything and that is still unusual. I sort of blame Ridley Scott for all of that and Jim Cameron, because they love women and respect women. Ridley just let Ripley be a person. ”

You have had such a challenging career, what have been the defining experiences for you so far, do you think?

Sigourney Weaver: I think most of my life changing experiences have been as a parent and as a wife. For a mother, just getting your child through the school system is a heroic job. And when I think of my life, I don’t think of my work, I think of my real life. You know, at home I have my family and I have all the different things that I care about, like human rights. There are lots of causes that I work for and when I’m in New York I end up just spending a lot of time on them. I don’t begrudge it all, I’m saying that I keep incredibly busy.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

Sigourney Weaver: I love to be with my family, I love to do nothing, I love to read, to be in the garden, I love to take walks, play with my dogs and to cook – I am incredibly boring (laughs). My perfect day would be spent in the country, out in nature with the dogs and my husband and maybe my daughter and her boyfriend. We would hike up some small mountain with a picnic, then have a swim and cook hamburgers or something and then go to sleep.

The final trailer for The Last Airbender has been released and I have to admit as trailers go it’s pretty awesome. I’ve been very sceptical of this, predominately due to the fact that M. Night’s last film was The Happening, which was a huge, steaming, smelly turd of a film if there ever was one, it made his previous shit film, Lady In The Water look like a masterpiece. Yesterday it was reported that this was being converted into 3D, something that put me off just as much as The Happening, these 3D post conversions just seem like a scam to bring in some more $$$£££’s (if you’ve seen Clash Of The Titans you’ll know what I’m talking about), it’s an abuse of the technique, which when done well (see Avatar) can heighten the cinematic experience .  Hopefully they put more time into the conversion than Clash Of The Titans did. I really want this to be as good as the trailers have been, the action scenes look fantastic.*crosses fingers*

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. The Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war against the other three nations. The film’s hero, the reluctant young Aang (Noah Ringer), is the “Last Airbender” — the Avatar who, according to prophecy, has the ability to manipulate all of the elements and bring all the nations together. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her bull-headed brother Sokka, Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. Dev Patel plays the Fire Nation’s evil prince Zuko. Exiled from the Fire Nation by his father, Zuko is sent to capture the Avatar in order to restore his honor and right to the throne.

I’m not suprised by much of these nominations, they definitely took the easy route, the obvious snubs for me were Moon for Best Picture (The Blind Side?!?!), Sam Rockwell for Best Actor, Samson & Delilah  and (500) Days Of Summer. Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the pack with 9 nominations each. I’ve bolded and italiced (if they are actual words) who I think should win.

Actress in a supporting role
Mo’Nique in Precious
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Diane Kruger in Inglourious Basterds
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messengers

Actor in a leading role
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Actress in a leading role
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia in It’s Complicated
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Carey Mulligan in An Education

Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
Secret of Kells

Foreign language film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

Directing
Avatar (James Cameron)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Lee Daniels (Precious)

Writing (adapted screenplay)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin and Tony Roche)

Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Best picture
Avatar (James Cameron – director; Brooke Breton , Laeta Kalogridis, Jon Landau, Josh McLaglen, Janace Tashjian, Peter M Tobyansen, Colin Wilson – producers)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp – director, Bill Block, Philippa Boyens, Carolynne Cunningham, Elliot Ferwerda, Paul Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ken Kamins, Michael S Murphey – producers)
An Education (Lone Scherfig)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Precious (Lee Daniels)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock)
Up

Avatar is raking it in, last Saturday it sealed it’s place in the record books as the highest grossing film of all time at the international box office with a grand total of $1.288bn (Titanic’s International Box Office receipt is $1.242), it has now grossed more than $100m for the sixth consecutive weekend internationally. It is also creeping up on Titanic’s domestic (US) Box Office record of $600.8m with $552.8m. I don’t think anyone expected it to make this much money, I thought it would be a huge success but damn, that is a lot of 0’s and $’s. Check out my interview with James Cameron, Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver here

avatar poster

20th Century Fox have released a new  featurette for Avatar which includes all new footage, interviews from the cast and gives away too much of the story!?!?! Check out the featurette below. I’m amped for this!

I also recieved word today from Atlantic records that they are  releasing the official soundtrack for Avatar on 14^th December. Also Leona Lewis has recorded the end title song ‘I See You’, which will feature on the soundtrack along with music composed and conducted by Academy Award winner James Horner.  I hope isn’ t anything like that Celine Dion Titanic song, whenever I hear that song I want to kill rabbits.

Here’s the track listing: (It also gives away the plot!)

1. “You Don’t Dream in Cryo…”
2. Jake Enters His Avatar World
3. Pure Spirits of the Forest
4. The Bioluminescence of the Night
5. Becoming One of “The People”
Becoming One With Neytiri
6. Climbing Up – “Iknimaya – The Path to Heaven”
7. Jake’s First Flight
8. Scorched Earth
9. Quaritch
10. The Destruction of “Hometree”
11. Shutting Down Grace’s Lab
12. Gathering All the Na’vi Clans for Battle
13. War
14. I See You (Theme from “Avatar”)

According to Comingsoon.net 20th Century Fox will debut a new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar in US theaters this Friday, October 23rd. The trailer will clock in at roughly around 3 minutes and 30 seconds. But it won’t be coming online until October 29th.  The first trailer was a bit of a let down for me especially after attending Avatar day and seeing around 20 minutes of the film in 3D, the teaser blew me away, I hope this trailer better represents the clips I saw.

The storys protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program, which will enable him to walk. Jake travels to Pandora, a lush jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also home to the Navi, a sentient humanoid race that are more physically capable than humans, although considered primitive. Standing three meters tall, with tails and sparkling blue skin, the Navi live in harmony with their unspoiled world. As humans encroach deeper into Pandora’s forests in search of valuable minerals, the Navi unleash their formidable warrior abilities to defend their threatened existence.

Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Navi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies that are controlled by a human “driver” through a technology that links the driver’s mind to their Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Sent deep into Pandora’s jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow, Jake encounters many of Pandora’s beauties and dangers. There he meets a young Navi female, Neytiri, whose beauty is only matched by her ferocity in battle. Over time, Jake integrates himself into Neytiri’s clan, and begins to fall in love with her. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Navi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.

AVATAR opens in cinemas everywhere December 18, 2009.