'Avatar: The Way of Water': Kate Winslet had 'mama bear energy' on set of the James Cameron epic

Visually impressive and absolutely epic, James Cameron, once again, pushes the boundaries of movie-making technology with Avatar: The Way of Water, and it's worth the 13-year wait.

“I remember hugging Trinity [Jo-Li Bliss] because she was so emotional, she was crying after watching it, as we all were,” one of the movie's young stars Bailey Bass told Yahoo Canada. “We worked so hard and the movie is so beautiful, and I'm proud of us.”

What is Avatar: The Way of Water about?

The Avatar story continues with human marine-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) now raising their children Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) in the Pandora rainforests, along with the adopted Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and Spider (Jack Champion) who is a human abandoned in Pandora after the military left in the first film.

“It was cool to play a character with such inner turmoil and conflict, because he grew up around the Sully family and around the Na’vi people,” Jack Champion said. “Literally, you see him early on in the film taking care of the Ikran, so he's so comfortable with them."

“Once he gets taken to the human side of Pandora, it's almost like his version of going to an alien world because he's so used to Pandora. His own people are alien to him.”

In addition to sailing, or swimming, through the stunning visuals of Pandora, much of the narrative revolves around a sort of coming-of-age story for the Sully kids, paired with the threat of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) coming back from the dead. This threat leads the Sullys to the sea tribe, the Metkayin. The leader of the tribe is Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) along with matriarch Ronal (Kate Winslet) and children Tsireya (Bass) and Aonung (Filip Geljo).

'Kate Winslet walks in and that's mama bear energy'

James Cameron not only accessed some of Hollywood's biggest stars for Avatar: The Way of Water, but he also picked out young, relatively unknown actors to go along this journey with the cast.

In terms of standing should-to-shoulder with movie veterans, the women, in particular, were supportive of their younger cast members.

“Kate Winslet walks in and that's mama bear energy off the bat, she wants to protect us, Zoe too,” Bailey Bass said. “Sig [Sigourney Weaver] kept this kid-like energy and I think that's why I never felt a mama bear energy from her because she had to keep this kid-like spirit in order to play Kiri, but even with that, she hosted a Halloween party for us, and was so welcoming.”

“I just look up to them so much and they're great role models for all girls around the world,” Trinity Jo-Li Bliss said.

“I think Sigourney, Sig, is a role model for me, even though I'm not a woman," Champion added. "I think, she's still so caring and obviously, her career is amazing,”

James Cameron 'makes it hard to work with other people'

For Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass, Jack Champion and Jamie Flatters, the actors have nothing but exceptional things to say about Avatar director James Cameron, someone who is very detailed and specific about his work, and he's happy to make you aware of that. But their praise goes far beyond his commitment to the project, it's really about how accessible he was for the actors.

“It makes it hard to work with other people, only because he is an actor's director, he understands that there's a fine line between the actor and the character that they're playing,” Bass said.

“Sometimes we cross over and the feeling that the character’s feeling, when we're acting, sometimes can bleed into our personal lives. He always wanted to make sure our mental health is protected. He would do that by, if we're doing an emotional scene, taking his time, and I wish more people understood that.”

“He gives everyone that time to do their best,” Flatters added.

“Even the way he interacts with digital, a lot of VFX artists right now. Not to speak for VFX artists but they're getting suffocated not being able to do their best work and Jim [James Cameron]...allows them the time for them to do their best.”

The actor who plays Neteyam also highlighted a time when Cameron flew out a shaman from Brazil to "give a blessing" to the set.

“I...found that a very formative experience,” Flatters said. "I weirdly knew who Neteyam was by having that communal [crew and cast experience]."

As Bass described Cameron, he was a very "interactive" director.

“They would build a structure so he could stand in the tank while we're swimming,” she revealed. “He would...Na'vi squat with us, or like, kneel down and really be close with us."

"I feel like sometimes I've been directed where the director is across the hall and I'm like, I want you to come speak to me so I feel like you're in my world too. Jim was as much in Pandora as we were.”

'Our world is just as beautiful as Pandora'

Throughout Avatar: The Way of Water, like the first film, there's a message of environmentalism that's connected to this story, made particularly impactful as you put on the 3D glasses and really get immersed in Pandora.

“Pandora is a lot like Earth and the situation could be where we are a long time from now, or maybe not even a long time now,” Trinity Jo-Li Bliss said. “I love Pandora, I remember watching the movie for the first time and just wanting to be on Pandora.”

“I think when it comes to the environmentalism on the set, the set is so environmentally friendly. We have plant based catering and I just think being part of this world of Pandora, being part of this environmentally-friendly set, it opened my eyes on many ways we can do better.”

“Our world is just as beautiful as Pandora, in my opinion,” Jack Champion added. "We were doing an interview at the aquarium here in Toronto and we saw a giant sea turtle just floating above us and it was so magical. I named him Bob."

“It reminds me, hey Pandora is amazing but we have this on Earth, and that's why it's really sad that we're losing it.”

'You can choose to be an actor, you can’t choose to be the actor you want to be'

When it comes for the future for these young Avatar stars, they're hoping to find work that can "challenge" them and provide a "transcendent" experience.

“I feel like the way we really experience acting, if we're going to be truthful, it's only what you're handed,” Jamie Flatters said. “You can choose to be an actor, you can’t choose to be the actor you want to be.”

“You often have to take a lot of jobs that don't necessarily interest you but it's a way to get to the jobs that you like. I think, personally, anything that has this utmost like transcendent quality, not that it's necessarily an escapism, of losing yourself, but if we can ever experience a wider emotion that we don't normally get to feel, anything that allows you that."

“I like to be challenged and I think I was gifted, at an early age, with being part of this franchise, this challenge of doing something revolutionary,” Bailey Bass added. “With the set training, learning to act underwater and learning to free dive, having to interact with many things that are not there.”

“Even…in Interview With A Vampire, playing Claudia who's such the polar opposite of what I am like. These are two, Tsireya and Claudia, are very challenging roles. So if I can continue to be challenged that way, in some way, do something that's so difficult but then end up on the other side stronger, I would love to do that for the rest of my career.”

Avatar: The Way of Water opens exclusively in theatres on Dec. 16