The Spotilight
Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion & Bailey Bass
THE AVATAR STARS ON GROWING UP BLUE AND APPROACHING THEIR MOST CHALLENGING CHAPTER YET
WORDS SOPHIE BUTCHER
SAM Mc GUIRE
WHEN JAMES CAMERON took us back to Pandora with Avatar: The Way Of Water in 2022, he not only returned heroic Na’vi couple Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) to our screens, but introduced us to their young, extended family too. They include Sully siblings Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), plus adopted human brother Spider (Jack Champion), and Tsireya (Bailey Bass) of the water-based Metkayina Clan. After an extensive audition process, Dalton, Bliss, Champion and Bass spent years shooting The Way Of Water and upcoming third film Fire And Ash concurrently, in roles that defined their childhoods and launched their careers. Empire sits down with the quartet to dive deep into their Avatar journey.
THE FIRST WATCH
Avatar arrived in December 2009, when Dalton (who hails from California), Bass (Nashville), Champion (Virginia) and Bliss (Los Angeles) were aged eight, six, five, and just one month, respectively. Young as he was, this big blue behemoth still managed to seep into Champion’s cinematic consciousness. “I have a vivid memory of watching it with my mom,” he says. “I remember thinking, ‘They have to make a sequel to this, right?’ And lo and behold…” For the others, their debut trip to Pandora came during the casting process for The Way Of Water — in Bliss’ case, it was actually on the way to auditions. “It was a two-hour drive with LA traffic,” she says. “I’d watch Avatar there and back and prepare myself, mimicking Neytiri.” She wasn’t the only one who gained early inspiration from Saldaña’s Na’vi matriarch. “I was like, ‘Holy cow,’” Bass, who also starred in TV’s Interview With The Vampire, says of her first time seeing the film. “I had a feeling who Tsireya was going to be, and her similarity to Neytiri, and thought, ‘That is what I get to emulate.’” Dalton didn’t catch up until after landing the role, but it provided pivotal context for what was coming. “It blew my mind,” he says, “and put into perspective how big a thing I was in.”