Jack Champion spent over four and a half years filming Avatar: The Way of Water with director James Cameron. Champion, who plays the orphaned teen character Spider, says that the experience working with Cameron brought them close, especially since he was young when filming for The Way of Water began. Champion spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his lengthy audition process, preparation for the role, and time spent on set.

Champion says about Cameron,

When Champion auditioned for the film, he was only 12 years old, and he watched Avatar every day leading up to the audition to prepare. Champion said that while he was excited about the role, he didn’t want to get his hopes up at any point in the process because, as an actor, nothing is ever for sure. However, once he booked the role, the whole experience of shooting and post-production spanned his teenage years.

“He knows everything about every department, from acting to lighting to stunts to cinematography. A lot of the time, he’d hold the camera himself, do his camera work. He’s just a cinematic genius. After so many years, he has become like a father figure to me.”

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Now that Avatar: The Way of Water has been released nationwide, Champion, 18, can focus on his upcoming projects. Champions docket includes Scream 6, a thriller called Retribution which co-stars Liam Neeson (The Ice Road), and a drama called Freaky Tales.

Avatar is Jack Champion’s Big Break

     20th Century Fox

Avatar isn’t Jack Champion’s first time on the big screen, but it is, objectively, his big break. Before landing the role of the human teenager on Pandora, Champion had a minor role in Avengers: Endgame, in which he played a bicycle-riding teen.

Champion also had a lead role in 2018’s The Night Sitter, where he played one of the kids getting babysat in a comedy horror Christmas film. In The Night Sitter, Champion played a disturbed teenager named Kevin, who recently lost his mother. Now that Champion is exiting his teen years, he may soon be moving on to different types of roles that extend beyond orphaned teens. The actor has not yet made a move to Hollywood, preferring, for now, to stay in Virginia since he says virtual auditions allow him to do so. Champion’s next film is Scream 6, which comes to theaters in March.

Avatar: The Way of Water is available in theaters today, Dec. 16.

“I watched the Scream movies in October of 2021, and immediately I became a huge fan of horror and slashers. Last Halloween, I dressed as Ghostface, and then, literally in less than a year, I would be cast in the next movie.”