Avatar: The Way Of Water is set 14 years after the tumultuous events of the first film. If, in the real world, the gap is to accommodate the 13 years between the two movies, in the fictional world it alludes to the seven years it takes the defeated Resources Development Administration (Boooo!) to retreat to Earth, and a further seven years to regroup and come back, armed and even more dangerous. The return of the RDA also means the return of Colonel Miles Quaritch, even though he was killed by the arrows of Zoe Saldaña's Neytiri in Avatar’s big final battle. And Stephen Lang, the man behind that cigar-chomping big bad, is frankly relieved to talk about it. “For the longest time, everything has been under wraps, right?” begins The Artist Sometimes Known As ‘SLang’. “All I've said for the last 10 years is, ‘Yeah, it's gonna be good.’ Now all of a sudden to have some of the wraps taken off is an interesting experience.” Lang is not only “interesting” but funny, candid and forthright. Below he spills the beans on Quaritch’s comeback, the RDA 2.0 and going toe to toe with James Cameron.
EMPIRE: I guess when you were making the first film, you thought there was no chance you will be back for a sequel?
Stephen Lang: I didn't really think about it to be honest. When we were months and months into the first shoot, it was one of those days in Wellington when we actually had a party. So we were having a couple of beers and at that point, Jim turned to me and said, “You'll be coming back” And I was like, “Hey that’s great!’, and then I kind of forgot about it. It came up again two years later and I was so thrilled and delighted. He said, ‘I already told you that’. And it's true. He doesn't forget a thing. You know, when he first said it, I put it down as one beer too many or something like that. But that wasn't the case at all. Generally, when Jim says something, he means it.
And you’re back because you are a ‘Recom’ [short for Recombinant]. Tell us about that?
He’s a genetically-engineered autonomous avatar. He has been downloaded with the mind, the emotions, and even more interestingly, possibly the spirit of Quaritch. Now, that's all pretty esoteric stuff. He comes with a full memory bank up until the time he actually undergoes the DNA transfer. So there are certain things that he doesn't have any memory of at all. He has no memory of his death.
But is it fair to say that he's still the same old Quaritch?
It's fair to say it, but I think it's incomplete. If you think about it, in the original film, Quaritch was really a function. He was a colourful function – a personality-filled function, but he really was there to provide conflict. Now, he still has that function but I also think, just because of the depths of what Jim is exploring here, he's quite a bit more than that. We’re seeing parts of him that we have not seen hitherto. That only makes sense because we don't want to be massaging the same territory over and over again. We need to go to new places and indeed he does.
How do you feel about your Na’vi look?
I think the look is strong and powerful. Let's just say, he's very lithe, he very powerfully moves with that wonderful fluidity that I myself move with. In so many ways he's a reflection of my own self. He can move with the same kind of cunning and feral quality that Sully or Neytiri, or any of the Navi can as well. I think that only adds to his ammunition, to his toolbox. I think he takes a certain joy in that ability to move in that environment in a way that is confident — that's a wonderful feeling.
There are qualities that are totally admirable about Quaritch.
What can we say about what the RDA are up to?
The RDA is a big, busy, vibrant and very, very cold mechanism. I think that what happened in the past to the RDA is in effect water off a mechanical duck's back to them. It’s just, ‘Okay if that doesn't do it, let's send in what does do it”, because they do the math. If the outcome justifies the input, they're gonna do the expenditure. It's not a question of ego. It’s just flat-out cold, nasty business equations with them. That is the team that Quaritch’s playing for. They're the ones who put the uniform on his back. If anything, he does his job – but I will just suggest that that his relationship with RDA is not a simple thing.
How would you describe his relationship with Edie Falco’s character Ardmore, the security general at the RDA? She looks like she can cower even Quaritch.
Edie Falco could cower a lot of people. I'm sure. She's a tough broad, a tough cookie. A beautiful person and a beautiful piece of casting. She outranks Quaritch. It seems to me he is really trying his hardest to make it work with Ardmore, but we'll just have to see how that works out. Back in the day, Quaritch was the right-angle, straight line guy in a very fluid and round world. Now it’s Ardmore who lives by this by-the-book doctrinaire, and sometimes you gotta throw the book out the window.
What do you think it is a people love about Quaritch?
I think that's a very good question. His energy is strong and in an odd way, his energy is very positive or aggressive. There are qualities that are totally admirable about him. He takes care of his people. He is a loyal guy. He's bright. He's brave. He is selfless in that sense. He leads from the front which I think is always an admirable kind of a quality. He has a good, dry, ironic sense of humour, not necessarily about himself.
You’re describing Quaritch but it also sounds like Jim. Is that fair?
[Laughs] I never actually made that connection before, you're the first one to ever do that. I am not playing Jim Cameron there. If that became a little worm in my brain, that would really screw me up in the sequels to come. Maybe Jim would like to be Quaritch.
How would you describe your working relationship with Jim?
We run pretty well. We discuss. We tangle, we're cantankerous, it’s fun. He loves his actors. I've always said that acting is the one thing, along with catering, Jim doesn't actually think he is better at than everybody else. So he tends to lavish praise on the caterer and the actors while beating the hell out of the camera crew and the art department. The relationship has just always been open, really communicative. I listen to him, I trust him, and I like him, and presumably he feels the same way about me. I see it with the other actors as well. His respect and affection for Sigourney, for Kate, for Sam and Zoe — really for everybody. He’s just a pleasure to work with. There are times when the shit hits the fan out there. It just happens. But so what? We're all big boys and girls.
Avatar: The Way Of Water comes to UK cinemas from 16 December