Kate Winslet Stops ‘Avatar 2’ Interview to Comfort Shy Teen Reporter

Kate Winslet’s press tour for “Avatar: The Way of Water” has included several memorable moments, but few come close to matching Winslet’s decision to help motivate a first-time interviewer during an international press junket. A video of Winslet sharing words of encouragement to a shy young reporter has gone viral on social media, with the clip surpassing 1 million views on Twitter in less than 24 hours.

Winslet was being interviewed for the German TV network ZDF (via The Independent) when the outlet’s young reporter, Martha, told the Oscar winner, “Um, it’s my first time.” Winslet paused the interview and leaned closer to the reporter.

“This is your first time doing it?” Winslet asked. “Ok, well guess what? When we do this interview, it’s going to be the most amazing interview ever. And do you know why? Because we’ve decided that it’s going to be. So, we’ve decided right now, me and you, that this is going to be a really fantastic interview.”

Winslet continued, “You can ask me anything that you want, and you don’t have to be scared. Everything is going to be amazing. Ok? You’ve got this. Ok, let’s do it!”

Winslet stars in “Avatar: The Way of Water” as Ronal, a free diver of the Metkayina water clan who is the wife of the village’s leader. Ronal is also pregnant, a character trait that director James Cameron felt was essential for on-screen representation.

“Everybody’s always talking about female empowerment,” Cameron recently told Variety. “But what is such a big part of a woman’s life that we, as men, don’t experience? And I thought, ‘Well, if you’re really going to go all the way down the rabbit hole of female empowerment, let’s have a female warrior who’s six months pregnant in battle.’”

“It doesn’t happen in our society — probably hasn’t happened for hundreds of years. But I guarantee you, back in the day, women had to fight for survival and protect their children, and it didn’t matter if they were pregnant,” Cameron continued. “And pregnant women are more capable of being a lot more athletic than we, as a culture, acknowledge. I thought, ‘Let’s take the real boundaries off.’ To me, it was the last bastion that you don’t see. Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel — all these other amazing women come up, but they’re not moms and they’re not pregnant while they’re fighting evil.”

“Avatar: The Way of Water” Is now playing in theaters nationwide.