Avatar 2's Jack Champion And Bailey Bass Admit That The Tank Upsettingly Doubled As A Bathroom
Considering it took 13 years to get "Avatar: The Way of Water" in theaters following the massive success of "Avatar," it's safe to say James Cameron and his crew faced their fair share of challenges. For starters, Cameron once again had to develop all-new performance-capture technology to adequately get actors' performance in water (via The New York Times). Instead of merely hanging actors from wires to simulate weightlessness, Cameron had actors swim in a giant tank so that they actually had resistance from the water to inform their performances.
It was an undertaking unlike any other, and the results speak for themselves on the big screen. The characters really look like they're swimming in a reef, to the point where it's hard not to believe you're watching a documentary of aliens floating about in the ocean. However, the water tank the actors swam in presented more challenges than how to capture performances digitally. According to some of the actors, some people had a hard time refraining from urinating in the tank, turning the pinnacle of CGI creation into a glorified public pool.
Jack Champion admitted to peeing in the tank
A lot of people don't seem to have a problem urinating wherever there's water. Whether it's a shower or a pool, people will take any excuse they can get to avoid going to a toilet in order to relieve themselves. Apparently, that philosophy was alive and well during the filming of the underwater sequences of "Avatar: The Way of Water."
Jack Champion (Spider) and Bailey Bass (Tsireya) did an interview with PopBuzz where they played Jenga and answered questions related to "Avatar: The Way of Water." When asked to recall the funniest memory from the set, Champion responded, "Everyone knows you're a liar if you say you haven't peed in the tank because it's long hours. Everyone pees in it." Champion went on to recall a conversation he had with Britain Dalton (Lo'ak), where he admitted to urinating in the tank 100 times, whereas Dalton said he never went in it.
At this point, Champion was worried he would get in trouble, but plenty of other people admitted to using the tank as a bathroom, so he was in the clear. Still, Dalton remained adamant that he never went in the tank, which caused Champion to be pretty skeptical.
Jack Champion wasn't alone in his admission
To be fair, it would be pretty inconvenient if every time someone needed to use the restroom, they had to be pulled out of the tank. They'd then have to take off their wetsuit, go to the bathroom, and then come back, which could get cumbersome if you have a lot of people needing to go to the bathroom all at once. Hopefully, people took it easy on drinking coffee before getting into the water. Perhaps it's for this reason other cast members have admitted to urinating in the tank while filming.
In an interview with Variety, Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) said that he was prone to relieving himself while submerged underwater. He went on the record saying, "There's a lot of stuff going on in that water that you don't really discuss. You're 30 foot down and you need to go, you go. You hope that the water doesn't turn pink." With at least several actors going to the bathroom while in the tank, it's amazing the water didn't turn yellow at some point.
With a runtime of 190 minutes, you may find yourself needing to use the restroom part way through "Avatar: The Way of Water." Still, plenty of people have held it in, propelling "The Way of Water" to become the number one film at the box office during its opening weekend.