Sam Worthington

Being cast as marine Jake Sully in James Cameron’s Avatar changed one-time bricklayer Sam Worthington’s life: before a frame of the film had screened he was offered lead roles in Terminator: Salvation and Clash of the Titans. Now his breakthrough film is finally reaching our screens.

How did you get involved with Avatar?
I did an audition in Australia but I knew nothing about the project, I wasn’t told who the director was, I couldn’t read the script, which peed me off a bit. But obviously Jim saw something in that rebellious attitude. A week later I got a call to fly to LA. And we kept auditioning for 6 months, on and off, back and forth, to convince the studio to take a punt on an unknown Aussie.

So Cameron was behind you but the studio wasn’t?
It’s a lot of money to rest on the shoulders of a guy who’s not tested. But Jim always said, “if the project’s good, my name’s big enough”. He backed me from the very beginning.

What do you think he saw in you?
It’d be arrogant to assume anything, you’d have to ask him. I do know he’s a truck driver from Canada, I’m a bricklayer from Australia, we share a work ethic. We look at making movies not as a God-given right, but as a job. We do it hard, you have to drag us off the set at the end of the day.

When you first read the script for Avatar, could you visualise it?
Jim is a stickler for detail, that’s what makes him unique. His scripts are four times the size of a normal script because of the amount of detail. I said to him, how the hell are you going to make this? He took me to the motion capture set. There was a guy running around, pretending to be a banshee, squawking and flapping his arms. I looked at the monitor and saw a banshee, and I thought, I get it! I’m mad enough to do this, let’s go!

James Cameron has a tough reputation. Did the two of you get on?
He’s changed my life, I owe him everything. He is tough, he demands excellence, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m not scared of demanding that of myself. We connect because we’re both tough, opinionated, passionate and love working.

Was he very hands-on with your performance?
A good director lets you come to the party. Jim lets you collaborate, even though he knows everyone else’s job better than them. He trusts you to deliver. He sets the bar high, but gives you the courage to jump over. He sets the bar high, but gives you the courage to jump over. He protects you. You don’t feel any outside influence, media exposure, studio involvement, you’re in the eye of the hurricane, it’s very calm and you’re there to create. He gave me a lot of courage to make it funnier, to make it goofier, to bring out the emotion. He’d just say, “man up! Let’s go!”

What kind of preparations did you do for the role of Jake Sully?
At the start you don’t know who he is, we’re not revealing too much. Then as the movie blossoms, he blossoms. I looked at my nephew, a seven year old kid opening his eyes to the world, and I played him like that.

How was it spending so much time in a wheelchair?
I didn’t want it to be like I’d seen in another movies, a guy despondent and disabled. I met some basketball players in wheelchairs who said “look, this is not a disability. Other people have a disability when they tell us what we can and can’t do.” And I thought, there’s a great grounding there. People look down on these guys every day, imagine the strength of character they have. I thought that was cool. So Jake is never surly and despondent in his situation. If anything it makes him tougher.

How much military training did you have to do?
I went out to train with Jim’s brother, who’s a former marine, plus Jim’s security guards, who are also former marines. I wanted to get into their heads. They put me through the ringer a bit because they thought I was a pussy actor, but after a while they stared to open up a bit.

Did you enjoy the process of motion capture?
If you leave your vanity and self-consciousness at home, you’ll have a good day at work. We used a studio called the Volume, about the size of a netball court. It’s Jim Cameron’s play pit. It’s filled with fiberglass, you run and climb, and the terrain is constantly shifting. There was a fiberglass bird to ride, with six guys swinging it side to side and a wind machine blasting at you. They had actual horses brought in, they shaved them and marked them and we rode them through the Volume.

Was there a communal sense between the actors?
When you’re in performance capture, it’s basic acting, the essence of acting. You’ve only got the other person. If acting is truth in imaginary circumstances, this forces you to try to get absolute truth in an absolute imaginary circumstance.

It’s been reported that Avatar is the most expensive movie ever made. Was there a sense of that on set?
I didn’t feel it. If it’s a 200 million dollar American movie, or a 2 million dollar Australian movie, my job is still the same.

Your next two movies are both serious, dramatic roles. Do you feel a need to prove your versatility?
Yeah, but I’m trying bring that versatility into all my roles. Jake isn’t a one-dimensional action hero, He’s hopefully funny, engaging, emotive, romantic. I do movies I would go and see. But I’m striving for balance.

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