Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the biggest movies of all-time. Being part of massive blockbuster like this is desirable for many actors. It ups their profile and can potentially make them a lot of money. However, actor and comedian Marc Maron is glad that he lost out on his Avatar audition and didn’t end up becoming part of the Avatar franchise.
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Marc Maron reveals that he actually auditioned for the role Dr. Ian Garvin, the scientist studying the whale-like tulkun that was ultimately played by Jermaine Clement. With all the motion capture work that was needed one assumes that filmikng an Avatar movie is a bizarre experience, but Maron says the audition process was equally insane, saying…
All of the sudden you’re in this free zone with people [James] just has there to read parts and fly and be on dollies. I’m on camera I think. I got a picture whatever the fuck it is, a boat or whatever…I’m in the middle of this thing and I’m totally untethered and I have no sense of character. I don’t know really what’s happening around me other than there are several unidentified actor people and acrobats around me.
Needless to say this entire Avatar audition experience sounds wild. More importantly, it’s clear listening to Maron tell the story that he didn’t particularly enjoy the whole thing. He said that James Cameron had a lot of “museum” pieces from his previous films, including a model of the Titanic, but that was the only positive thing the comedian says about the audition.
The Avatar sequel production has been one of the largest recent undertakings in Hollywood. Two movies were filmed together, so the actors needed to spend a lot of time in New Zealand, which was then exacerbated by the whole Covid experience. In the end, Maron didn’t get the part, but he admits that, even if he’d been offered the role, he might not have taken it. He continued…
Thank God [I didn’t get the part]... I don’t like being away from home… My agent was like, ‘You’re probably going to go to New Zealand for four years,’ or whatever the fuck it was. Some ridiculous amount of time… I’m like, it’s not happening… Then [Cameron] sent me a box of cigars because he didn’t cast me. Ok, that’s nice… At this age, I have no problem saying no.
A lot of actors enjoy the travel that often comes with the job. Adam Sandler has said he makes movies based on where they are set. But Maron is apparently not on of those people. It’s understandable, and the nice part of the job is that it usually pays well enough that you can choose the jobs that only give you what you want, even if what you want is to stay home. Check out Maron’s full Avatar comments in the complete interview below.
Marc Maron probably would have been pretty good in Avatar: The Way of Water if he’d ended up in the film, but it wasn’t to be. At least he got a box of cigars out of the deal.
