Kate Winslet thought she died after breaking record for time spent holding breath underwater

Kate Winslet has said that she thought she'd died after breaking the record for time spent holding breath underwater on set.

In case you weren't aware, much of the long-awaited Avatar sequel The Way of Water is set, unsurprisingly, in the ocean.

So, as well as the visual mastery that goes into making the movies come to life, James Cameron and his crew had the added task of making the underwater scenes look as realistic as possible.

As part of the process, the actors had to undergo rigorous training in order to act whilst being submerged in 30 feet water tanks – and this included learning to extend the amount of time they could hold their breath.

Winslet – who portrays Ronal, the female leader of the oceanic community – took to this training incredibly well, so much so that she managed to hold her breath for a whopping seven minutes and 14 seconds.

By doing so, she broke the on-set record, toppling Tom Cruise's six minutes, which he achieved while filming Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

And if you don't believe her, well, apparently she's got the video footage to prove it.

Speaking to Total Film ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water's release, the 47-year-old star said the record-breaking act didn't come without its consequences.

Twitter

"I have the video of me surfacing saying, 'Am I dead, have I died?' And then going, 'What was [my time]?'" she told the outlet.

"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."

Winslet also brushed off rumours that she was made to put herself through such a physical challenge, adding: "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.

"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."

And she did it in style - and by that, we mean she did it without dying.

Sigourney Weaver, who plays Grace in the first film and the adoptive teenage daughter of Jake and Neytiri in the sequel, went through equally rigorous training for the role.

In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, the Alien star revealed her prep for the extensive underwater work, which included deep sea diving in Key West, Florida and Hawaii, ‘where she reclined on the ocean floor while manta rays glided over her’.

Twitter

Her training also included working with ‘elite military divers so that she could hold her breath, after a big gulp of supplemental oxygen, for more than six minutes’, in addition to having weights around her waist.

"I had some concerns… but that’s what the training was for. And I really wanted to do it. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh, she’s old, she can’t do this,'" she said.

"My hope is that what I receive from the universe is even more outrageous than anything I can think of. I don’t really say to myself, ‘Well, you can’t do this.’ Or, ‘You can’t do that.’ Let me at it! And we’ll see."

Thankfully we'll be able to see how it turned out soon, as Avatar: The Way of Water swims into cinemas on December 16, where it can be enjoyed in 2D and epic 3D.