Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films (2025) Review

Plot: The two-part documentary from 20th Century Studios and Lightstorm Entertainment, which provides a fascinating glimpse into the making of the Oscar®-winning box office phenomenon “Avatar: The Way of Water” and a first look at the upcoming “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, concept art, and interviews with cast and filmmakers. The filmmakers traveled from Manhattan Beach, San Pedro, Shasta Lake, and the Channel Islands to the Bahamas, Hawaii, and New Zealand, to follow the cast and below-the-line team as they work to hone and perfect the techniques of underwater performance capture technology and learn to free dive in a massive, state-of-the-art 680,000-gallon water tank.

The executive producers for “Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films” are James Cameron and Rae Sanchini. The director/producer is Thomas C. Grane, the writer/producer is Richard Brehm, the creative director is Robert Glowacki, the director of photography is John Clisham, the director of photography – interviews is Steven Wacks, and the creative consultant is Geoff Burdick.

The two-part documentary includes interviews with (in order of appearance): James Cameron (writer/director/producer/editor), Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Jon Landau (producer), Stephen Lang, Maria Battle Campbell (co-producer, 1st assistant director,), Richard Baneham (executive producer, Lightstorm visual effects supervisor), Kate Winslet, Rae Sanchini (executive producer, president, Lightstorm Entertainment), Margery Simkin (casting director), Jamie Landau (co-producer), Stephen Rivkin (editor), Ryan Champney (visual production supervisor), Dylan Cole (production designer), Garrett Warren (2nd unit director, stunt coordinator), Rob Innes (founder, Jetovator, Inc.), John Rosengrant (co-founder, Legacy Effects), Chis Denison (stunts), Joey Natale (stunts, stunt driver), Steve Brown (assistant stunt coordinator), Richie Schwalm (on-set coordinator), JD Schwalm (performance capture special effects coordinator), Peter Zuccarini (underwater cinematographer), John Garvin (supervising dive master), Kirk Krack (performance free dive instructor), Sigourney Weaver, Cliff Curtis, William Trubridge (Metkayina stroke consultant), Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Luke Freeborn (supervising art director), Ben Procter (production designer), Brigitte Yorke (co-producer, New Zealand unit production manager), Brendan Cowell, John Garvin (supervising dive master), Jack Champion, Joe Letteri (senior visual effects supervisor), Eric Saindon (Wētā FX, senior visual effects supervisor), Nick Epstein (Wētā FX, visual effects supervisor). Mob Scene served as the production company for the documentary.

Review: I don’t normally review documentaries on this site however, in this case I’ll make an exception as the Avatar films are action movies and James Cameron is one of the all time great action directors.

Disney+ is about to release a 2 episode special exploring the making of Avatar: The Way of Water which also contains some new footage from Avatar: Fire and Ash set for release next month.

This in depth behind the scenes footage really goes into how much effort goes into these movies; many of us dismiss these films as nothing more than CG spectacle however, Cameron says in the opening that everything is performances based with the actors doing everything that the characters are doing on screen. There are interviews with all involved including Sam Worthington, Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver who all seem to genuinely enjoy making these movies.

Entire swimming tanks were built for the stunning underwater sequences and even Sigourney (proving she’ll always be Ellen Ripley) loves doing her own stunts and does all the swimming herself.

The first episode did drag a little towards the end however, I was also exhausted after a day’s work so that didn’t help.

The footage to Fire and Ash looks interesting as I like where the story could be heading and I’ll not say anything else…

Overall, Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films is an entertaining exploration into how the world of Pandora is created and it’s a lot more than just using computers to do everything. I’ve grown to appreciate the craft a lot more since watching this and I look forward to Fire and Ash next month.