72-Year-Old Sigourney Weaver Plays Teen in Avatar Sequel

Empire magazine reveals a surprise about the upcoming Avatar sequel: In it, 72-year-old Sigourney Weaver plays a teenager. More specifically, Weaver plays a blue Na'vi humanoid named Kiri. Director James Cameron's motion-capture technology will take care of much of the physical transformation in Avatar: The Way of Water, notes Variety, but Weaver tells Empire she workshopped with actual teen girls to get into the right mindset.

“I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents,” she tells the magazine. “I certainly do. I was 5’ 10” or 5’ 11” when I was 11. I felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time. She’s searching for who she is." Avatar fans take note: Weaver's new character is completely unrelated to her character of Dr. Grace Augustine in the first film. And this one required Weaver to train with military divers in order to hold her breath for six minutes under water, while weighted down, she previously told the New York Times. The movie is out Dec. 16. (More Sigourney Weaver stories.)