Kate Winslet questioned whether she was dead after she broke the record for the amount of time spent holding her breath underwater while filming “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The actress held her breath for 7 minutes and 15 seconds while filming James Cameron‘s long-awaited sequel, proving yet again what a badass she is.
- The previous record was held by Tom Cruise. While filming “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” Cruise held his breath under water for six minutes. That’s still incredibly impressive and not something just anyone could do. In fact, most people couldn’t. However, the fact that Kate Winslet broke his record by more than a minute for “Avatar” is amazing.
- Winslet had no idea how long she’d been under. Her focus was on controlling the oxygen levels in her body, so she certainly wasn’t counting the seconds. As she told Total Film, she was shocked to learn of her feat when she emerged. “I have the video of me surfacing saying, ‘Am I dead, have I died?’ And then going, ‘What was [my time]?'” she recalled. “Straight away I wanted to know my time. And I couldn’t believe it… The next thing I say is, ‘We need to radio set.’ I wanted Jim to know right away.”
- Holding her breath for so long was about personal achievement. While filming “Avatar” would have been challenging under any circumstances, Kate Winslet’s record-breaking stint underwater was for herself, not the movie. “Well, I didn’t have to hold my breath for over seven minutes. It’s just that the opportunity to set a record presented itself,” she said. “I wanted to break my own record, which was already six minutes and 14 seconds. And I was like, ‘Come on!’ So I smashed my own record by a minute.”
- How was she even able to do this? Winslet recently appeared on The Graham Norton Show.” In that interview, she revealed that she had only three weeks of training prior to beginning shooting. She explained that there’s a very particular science to learning to hold your breath for so long and that she happened to get really good at it. That much is clear!
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is in theaters now.
