Kate Winslet praises James Cameron for ‘always writing for women’ as she stars in Avatar: The Way of Water-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Cameron and Winslet have reunited to work together again, 25 years after Titanic (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Kate Winslet has praised her Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron on how he writes female characters as they collaborate once more.

Winslet became a star when he cast her in his 1997 critically acclaimed blockbuster Titanic, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

The film earned 11 Oscars, and an Academy Award nomination for best actress for Winslet, as well as becoming the then highest-grossing film of all time.

In the interim, Cameron knocked Titanic off the top spot with Avatar in 2009, and now he and Winslet have reunited 25 years after their period drama success for the Avatar sequel.

Discussing what it was like to reunite with Cameron and join the Avatar franchise at the global press conference on Monday, Winslet told Metro.co.uk and other press: ‘I have to say, with it being Jim, I expected the absolute best of everything because it’s precision, it’s thought through, it is thorough, it’s meticulous, and I think the thing that pulled me in most of all, above everything else, is the characters that he’s created.’

She continued: ‘Jim has always written, for women, characters who are not just strong, but they are leaders – they lead with their heart, with integrity. They stand in their truth, they own their power, they have physical power that is admirable.’

Stars Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss at Tuesday night’s world premiere for Avatar: The Way of Water (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Winslet plays Ronal in the sequel, and praised Cameron for how he writes power in his female characters (Picture: 20th Century Studios)

The 47-year-old stars as Ronal, the resolute spiritual leader and wife to Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), chief of the Metkayina clan, a water-dwelling group of Na’vi.

The Hollywood star gushed over being ‘a part’ of the experience and also joked over the demands of the job, which saw her famously break Tom Cruise’s record for holding his breath underwater.

Water is, unsurprisingly, a large and challenging element of Avatar: The Way of Water, and its cast all spent months – if not years – filming in motion capture suits.

She continued: ‘It was just so flattering and I knew that he [Cameron] was asking me because he knew I was too damn foolish not to say, “Oh, you see that in me? Well, guess what? I’m going to show you that I can do exactly that thing and maybe that thing and maybe that thing and maybe that thing!” And of course, he expected no less.

Winslet with Cameron and DiCaprio at the Golden Globe Awards in 1998 (Picture: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

‘So, I was just thrilled to be asked.’

Cameron recently revealed that he thought Winslet was a bit ‘traumatised’ by her role in Titanic ‘and her responsibility within it, as she was just 22 when it was released – it doesn’t seem to have stopped her coming back though.

One of her young co-stars, Jake Champion, told Metro.co.uk just how long he’d had to spend filming owing to the fact his part sees him play a human character, Spider, who lives mostly among the Na’vi.

He explained at the world premiere in London’s Leicester Square: ‘I did two and a half years of performance capture with the cast and then I did another two and a half years of by myself in New Zealand. Instead of a performance capture suit, I was in a loincloth – in my underwear – and I basically had to learn how to fly solo without any of the other cast!

‘So I had to rely on that emotional relationship I’d built years prior.’

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In the Avatar sequel, set years later, protagonist Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is living with his newfound family formed on the planet of Pandora; he’s now a father to several kids with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), including the adopted 14-year-old Kiri, a new part played by returning actress Sigourney Weaver, 73.

Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na’vi race to protect their planet.

Avatar: The Way Of Water is released in cinemas on December 16.

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