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Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise's underwater record by one minute while filming 'Avatar 2:' 'I'm sure he's getting very fed up of hearing this story'

• Kate Winslet spoke to USA Today about her role in "Avatar: The Way of the Water."
• Winslet held her breath underwater for seven minutes, beating a record previously held by Tom Cruise. 
• "Avatar: The Way of the Water" hit theaters on Friday.

Kate Winslet held her breath underwater for more than seven minutes in " Avatar: The Way of the Water ," breaking a record previously held by Tom Cruise. 

Winslet shared details with  USA Today as James Cameron's  " Avatar " sequel hit theaters on Friday. Winslet  stars alongside Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Weaver, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Sigourney Weaver, and more in "Avatar: The Way of the Water." 

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Winslet told the outlet she trained and learned how to free dive ahead of the film, which allowed her to remain underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds. 

Her time officially broke a record set by Cruise, who held his breath underwater for six minutes while filming "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" in 2015. 

"Poor Tom," the actress told USA Today. "I mean, I don't know Tom at all – I've never met him in my life – but I'm sure he's getting very fed up of hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. ... I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better."

In the same interview, Weaver – who appeared in both "Avatar" films – added that she held her breath for six minutes and 30 seconds. 

"We were delighted for Kate that she did that," Weaver said. "My husband (theater director Jim Simpson) and I both did 6 ½ minutes, which was astonishing to us and our teacher, Kirk Krack, who teaches the Navy SEALs. Everyone had a personal best."

A post shared by Avatar 2 ~ The Way of Water (@avatar2officialmovie)

In December, Cameron told  ComicBook.com that the special effects in "Avatar 2" were better than Marvel films . 

"Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we're doing… Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw this movie. It's not even close. It's what Weta did," he told the outlet. 

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Kate Winslet thinks Tom Cruise is ‘fed up' hearing about her 'Avatar' underwater record

Kate Winslet is never letting go of James Cameron . 

Twenty-five years after they shattered box-office records with 1997's "Titanic," the Oscar-winning actress and director have reunited on "Avatar: The Way of Water" (now in theaters), the highly anticipated sequel to 2009's "Avatar."

In the eye-popping sci-fi epic, Winslet plays the sagacious Ronal, an alien queen and healer who leads the oceanic Metkayina clan. When humans return to the planet of Pandora and begin to ravage its forests, human-turned-Na'vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family find shelter with Ronal's tribe, which teaches the Sully brood how to fight and communicate underwater. 

'Avatar: The Way of Water': James Cameron talks replicating box-office magic

Winslet, 47, says she was "immediately on board" when Cameron approached her about the role, which was entirely done with motion capture technology. 

"I'm a mother now, and he knows who I am as a parent as well as an actor," Winslet says. "And he certainly knows how far I can be pushed and the challenges that I'm happy to meet, so it made sense to me why he would consider that I might be interested in Ronal. Because that's who she is: a mother and a leader living with integrity and truth, and also physically very robust and resilient." 

In the months leading up to production, Winslet trained extensively in free-diving to learn how to hold her breath underwater for the film's many sequences of Ronal riding "skimwing" (a sort of flying fish) and speaking to "tulkun" (the Pandoran version of a giant whale). Her husband, businessman Edward Abel Smith, practiced alongside her for support. 

"Ned is an extremely fit, healthy person and is capable of a great many things," Winslet says. "He trained with me so that if I needed to practice without our instructor there we were safe because you really can't do it by yourself. It's the same as scuba diving: You have to have a buddy. It's a sport, it's a skill, and your body adjusts to be able to do that thing. So having Ned there was very important." 

Our review: Prepare for a visually stunning return to Pandora in 'Avatar 2'

The grueling work paid off for Winslet, who held her breath underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds while filming "Avatar 2." She broke a record previously held by Tom Cruise, who lasted six minutes underwater shooting 2015's "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation." The actress says she hasn't heard from Cruise about besting his time. 

"Poor Tom," Winslet says with a grin. "I mean, I don't know Tom at all – I've never met him in my life – but I'm sure he's getting very fed up of hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. ... I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better." 

Winslet's co-star, Sigourney Weaver, insists there was no breath-holding competition among the "Avatar" cast. 

"We were delighted for Kate that she did that," Weaver says. "My husband (theater director Jim Simpson) and I both did 6 ½ minutes, which was astonishing to us and our teacher, Kirk Krack, who teaches the Navy SEALs. Everyone had a personal best." 

'Yeah, I'm definitely dead': Kate Winslet held her breath for 7 minutes filming 'Avatar 2'

As the first of four planned sequels, expectations are high for "Avatar 2" to approach the $2.7 billion global box office for the first film. But Winslet says she has always had faith in Cameron, even as a 21-year-old relative newcomer shooting "Titanic," which was plagued by budget overruns and delays. 

"It was a really, really hard shoot, but I don't remember actually hearing the rumors about 'movie in peril,'  " Winslet says. "I was just there to play the role as best I could, and I always trusted Jim's vision for it without questions. Plus, our sets and everything – we could all see it was very impressive, and we could feel it was extremely groundbreaking, powerful, interesting stuff. And as an actor, there's always the element of, 'Oh, well, a bit of a wing and a prayer, and hope this turns out OK.'" 

Winslet watched "Avatar 2" for the first time at its London premiere onDec. 6. Before then, she had only seen a few still images of Ronal, which she eagerly shared with her three children: Mia, 22, Joe, 19, and Bear, 9. 

"All of us were like, 'Wow, that's what she's going to look like! God, how cool!' " Winslet says. "It really does look like me: That really is my mouth and they have my beauty mark. But it's really fun for (the kids) to see that stuff. Mia and Joe remember and loved the first film, so they're incredibly excited." 

'Avatar': Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver on Filming Their Record-Setting Underwater Scenes (Exclusive)

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In director James Cameron 's highly anticipated Avatar sequel, The Way of Water , Kate Winslet joins the franchise as a pivotal new character, Ronal, a free diver of the Metkayina. And in doing so, the actress set a new record for holding one's breath underwater while shooting scenes for the new movie, which will transport viewers to parts of the planet Pandora that were not seen in the first film.

While Winslet is proud of the achievement , which shattered a record Tom Cruise set while filming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , it's something that required "a lot of training," she tells ET's Nischelle Turner about holding her breath for nearly seven minutes. "It's a lot of learning about the safety and what you have to do to get your body to adjust and adapt to be able to do that." 

"It certainly wouldn't have been possible for me to hold my breath for that long at depth, so there were surface static breath holds that we were doing to improve your skills," she explains. "It's a physical shift and it's something that you have to learn how to do. But at the same time, it's also a mindset in terms of quieting your mind, slowing everything down. So, quite honestly, my breath holding was done during our training time." 

And it was during that time, "I would just, like, hang there in the water," she says, revealing that she'd "count the slats. I'd go over it again. I'd make lists in my mind. But you have to be careful not to make, like, too many comprehensive complicated lists 'cause that also takes brain power. Like, it’s a whole, like, zen thing, actually. It’s completely amazing." 

And Winslet wasn't the only one to outdo Cruise, with Sigourney Weaver , who returns to the franchise as a new character, Kiri -- Jake and Neytiri's ( Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana ) adopted teenage daughter -- also holding her breath for six and a half minutes. 

"I think it was a huge surprise," Weaver says of her own, unexpected moment achieved while filming the underwater scenes, especially considering that on her first day of training she held her breath for a minute. "It is an acquired talent." 

"Well, you know, the whole idea was quite challenging, I think for all of us." she says, revealing that they worked with a trainer who teaches Navy Seals for a year as they learned how to hold their breath for longer and longer. "We had to spend long days underwater. So, when I watched the film, I was astonished by how comfortable we looked in that element." 

And that was especially important because she plays "a character who falls in love with the water as she does in any natural environment," Weaver says, with Cameron pointing out that Winslet's character "was meant to have been born in water and lived in the ocean her entire life." 

Even though Saldana had worked on the first Avatar film, this one was a whole new challenge. "Once again, it's like back to Pandora. Back to working with Jim and this wonderful cast and discovering new things that I am capable of," she says. "I challenge myself the way Jim challenges himself." 

But once she also mastered the technique required to hold one's breath for an extended amount of time, she was excited to know how to do it. "It was an exhilarating tool to obtain," she says. 

While the cast all met Cameron's challenge -- and helped him achieve a visual spectacle that shows life underwater in a whole new way -- the director says it wasn't all about the technical achievements, which also included free diving for some of them. 

"First of all, we didn't cast anybody in this movie because they could hold their breath. We cast them because they were the right people to play the character," the director says. 

"What I’m most proud of is how the actors’ performances came through so resoundingly in characters that are CG, you know. They’re not human characters," he explains. "And we like to not do it with makeup 'cause that would’ve looked horrible. We do it a whole different way, so it has this kinda magical quality of them looking extremely real but they’re kinda ones and zeroes."  

Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters on Dec. 16. 

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Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise's underwater filming record on Avatar 2 set without realizing it

Does Kate Winslet get to join the Impossible Mission Force now?

We've known for a while now that the actress held her breath for more than seven minutes while shooting underwater scenes for Avatar 2 . But Winslet didn't realize — nor did anyone else until recently, apparently — that this means she held her breath longer than Tom Cruise on the set of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation , previously considered the record for underwater breath-holding on screen .

Cruise trained extensively to hold his breath for six and a half minutes to film an underwater stunt for the blockbuster, which means Winslet bested him by about 45 seconds. However, the Titanic actress was unaware that this feat had become public until a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight .

"It's so funny because I don't really read reviews or media things. I'm not on Instagram, like I'm just completely disconnected from that part of my life," Winslet said. "So all of this week and the week before, I've had people coming up to me at work saying, 'Oh my God, like seven minutes and 14 seconds? Like, what?!' And I'm going, 'What? Hang on, wait a minute. How do you know that?'"

"It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I'll probably never be able to do it again," she added. "That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it."

Winslet had previously revealed the seven-minute stat in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , noting, "I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in Avatar , and that was just incredible. My longest breath hold was seven minutes and 14 seconds, like crazy, crazy stuff."

The actress can currently be seen alongside Saoirse Ronan in the Oscar contender Ammonite , now playing in select theaters. “Everything comes from an extremely steady, still place,” Winslet told EW of her character, Mary, in the romantic drama. “I had to focus a lot on that because movement and expression for Mary is used as communication. I had to be very careful about when those moments would be. We have to really choose when she would smile. She doesn’t smile that often. When she does, it’s an important vocal moment that comes from that expression of joy.”

Avatar 2 , which recently "100 percent" completed filming , is currently scheduled to hit theaters Dec. 16, 2022. However, as we've learned repeatedly, that date is very much subject to change.

Related content:

• Avatar sequel teases Kate Winslet's underwater role in new set photo
• Avatar 2 's new tropical settings and creatures revealed in concept art
• Kate Winslet recruited Saoirse Ronan for Ammonite right after filming icy ' Titanic moment' on Little Women

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Kate Winslet ‘Very Proud’ to Beat Tom Cruise’s Underwater Filming Record with ‘Avatar 2’

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Kate Winslet told Entertainment Tonight this week she’s “very proud” to have beaten Tom Cruise ‘s record for the longest underwater breath hold in a feature film. Tom Cruise held his breath underwater for six minutes while filming “ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” but Winslet beat him by over a minute, holding her breath for seven minutes and 14 seconds while filming an underwater scene for James Cameron’s “ Avatar 2 .”

“It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I’ll probably never be able to do it again,” Winslet said. “That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it.”

Winslet’s “Avatar 2” co-star Sigourney Weaver revealed earlier this year the “Avatar” cast trained with elite military divers in order to maximize the amount of time they could hold their breath underwater. Cast members wore weights around their waists during filming to keep them submerged underwater. Cameron filmed a majority of “Avatar 2” in giant water takes, and the longer the cast could hold their breath without returning to the surface for oxygen meant less interruptions in filming.

Winslet’s record-breaking breath hold has been circulating the internet for quite awhile, but she had no idea until her press tour for her new film ‘Ammonite’ started. As the Oscar winner said, “It’s so funny because I don’t really read reviews or media things. I’m not on Instagram, like I’m just completely disconnected from that part of my life. So all of this week and the week before, I’ve had people coming up to me at work saying, ‘Oh my God, like seven minutes and 14 seconds? Like, what?!” And I’m going, ‘What? Hang on, wait a minute. How do you know that?'”

Winslet held her breath for over seven minutes, but Weaver was no slouch either. The “Alien” favorite managed to hold her breath for six minutes while filming “Avatar 2.” Cameron’s sequel is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 16, 2022. “Avatar 3” will follow with a theatrical release on December 20, 2024. The fourth and fifth films are due in 2026 and 2028.

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Kate Winslet Reacts to Breaking Tom Cruise's Underwater Filming Record: I Am 'Very Proud'

Kate Winslet held her breath underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds while filming the upcoming Avatar sequel

Kate Winslet is "very proud" of herself after breaking a filming record while on the set of Avatar 2 .

During production on the highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 James Cameron -directed film, it was revealed that the 45-year-old actress held her breath underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds, an achievement that beat Tom Cruise's previous record. Cruise, 58, previously held his breath for 6 to 6½ minutes back in 2011 while filming Mission: Impossible — Rogue Natio n, according to USA Today .

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about the exciting stunt, Winslet revealed that she wasn't even aware that her feat was made public.

"It's so funny because I don't really read reviews or media things. I'm not on Instagram, like I'm just completely disconnected from that part of my life," she told the outlet. "So all of this week and the week before, I've had people coming up to me at work saying, 'Oh my God, like seven minutes and 14 seconds? Like, what?!" And I'm going, 'What? Hang on, wait a minute. How do you know that?'"

And though Winslet revealed that she is very proud of how long she spent underwater for the movie, she also noted that she doesn't believe she would ever be able to do it again anytime in the future.

"It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I'll probably never be able to do it again," she told ET . "That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it."

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Winslet also added that her newfound skill is "one of the things I love about the job."

"We're very, very lucky as actors that often we have to learn a whole new skill," she shared.

Last month, and weeks after Winslet revealed she plays a "water person" in the blockbuster follow-up, producer Jon Landau shared a photo on Instagram of the actress filming underwater.

With Winslet seen wearing a motion capture suit with a long cape flowing behind her, the Oscar winner also appeared to be wearing weights to hold her down while she stood at the bottom of a pool.

"I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in Avatar , and that was just incredible," Winslet said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , which Landau, 60, quoted in his post.

Landau has also previously shared photos of Winslet and the franchise's other stars, like Zoë Saldana , Sam Worthington and Cliff Curtis, filming in the water tank.

RELATED VIDEO: Avatar 2 : First Look At Sequel’s Next Generation Cast

That same month, Sigourney Weaver also opened up about the upcoming Avatar 2 , where she told T magazine that she "had some concerns" as she also filmed underwater scenes in a large tank with weights around her.

"I had some concerns," Weaver, 71, admitted while recounting her experience on the film's set . "But that’s what the training was for. And I really wanted to do it."

She continued, "I didn’t want anyone to think, 'Oh, she’s old, she can’t do this.'"

Weaver prepared for the role by taking diving lessons in Hawaii and Key West, Florida. She also trained with a coach who had previously worked with military divers and learned to hold her breath for more than six minutes with the help of supplemental oxygen.

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Kate winslet is proud to have beaten tom cruise’s underwater record in avatar 2.

Kate Winslet says she's proud her underwater scene in Avatar 2 saw her breaking Tom Cruise's record for holding one's breath in a movie.

Kate Winslet is proud to have beaten Tom Cruise’s underwater record for Avatar 2 . In 1997, Winslet took a voyage on the doomed ocean liner Titanic for director James Cameron, and nearly drowned in the process of shooting one of the movie’s watery action scenes.

Many actors would have said no thanks to doing more underwater work, especially with the notoriously demanding Cameron, after going through such a harrowing experience. Winslet on the other hand was left wanting to do more. So when Cameron came calling for Winslet to head to the fictional moon Pandora and play a member of the reef-dwelling tribe of Na’vi in Avatar 2 , the actress signed on. Recently, behind-the-scenes photos teased Winslet’s eventual work for the Avatar sequel, as the actress held her breath for seven minutes to film a scene involving a weird underwater Na’vi ceremony .

Related:  Avatar 2's Biggest Hurdle Is What Made The First Movie Successful

Winslet as it turned out broke a record by holding her breath for seven minutes in the scene, surpassing the six minutes of breath-holding Cruise achieved while shooting Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation . But as Winslet told ET in a recent interview, she didn’t even know the scope of her achievement until other people pointed it out to her. She explained:

"It's so funny because I don't really read reviews or media things. I'm not on Instagram, like I'm just completely disconnected from that part of my life. So all of this week and the week before, I've had people coming up to me at work saying, 'Oh my God, like seven minutes and 14 seconds? Like, what?!" And I'm going, 'What? Hang on, wait a minute. How do you know that?' It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I'll probably never be able to do it again. That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it."

Cruise of course is well known for his death defying movie stunts, including dangling from the outside of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, hanging off the wing of a plane during takeoff and doing his own dangerous helicopter stunt flying. For his next trick, Cruise will fly into orbit to film on the International Space Station. Winslet on the other hand is better known for her actual acting than her stunts, having snagged seven Oscar nominations in her career, with a win coming in 2009 for The Reader . Cruise by comparison has just three Oscar nominations with no wins so far.

While Cruise has focused on airborne stunts involving leaping between buildings and diving out of airplanes, others have stepped up to perfect the art of underwater acting, with Winslet now owning the distinction of the longest time holding one’s breath. As it happens, Winslet's Avatar 2 co-star Sigourney Weaver also set an impressive breath-holding mark of six minutes while shooting her own underwater scenes. Now that it’s gotten out that Winslet topped Cruise’s time, Cruise may demand that Christopher McQuarrie write an underwater scene for Mission: Impossible 7 so he can get the record back. But until Cruise gets around to proving he can hold his breath underwater longer than any other Oscar-nominated actor, Winslet and her Avatar 2 stunt coordinators can enjoy setting one of the odder records in moviemaking.

More:  What To Expect From Avatar 2

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Avatar 2: the way of water.

Kate Winslet Breaks Movie Record For Holding Breath Underwater

General Assignment Reporter, HuffPost

No scuba gear, no problem.

Kate Winslet held her breath underwater in a scene for “Avatar 2” that put stunt enthusiast Tom Cruise to shame.

Winslet’s time of 7 minutes 14 seconds broke Cruise’s unofficial movie mark of around 6 minutes filming “Mission: Impossible ― Rogue Nation,” according to “ Entertainment Tonight .”

“It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I’ll probably never be able to do it again,” Winslet told “ET” on Tuesday. “That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it.”

“Avatar” producer Jon Laundau previously posted a photo of Winslet at work in the depths.

View this post on Instagram Wanted to share this photo of Kate Winslet after reading her interview in The Hollywood Reporter: “I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in Avatar, and that was just incredible. My longest breath hold was seven minutes and 14 seconds, like crazy, crazy stuff.” She stops herself, afraid that she’s given away too much on the top-secret project. “Oh no, actually, I can’t. Yeah, I play a water person. I am a water person,” is all she will offer, instead shifting to praise of Cameron." A post shared by Jon Landau (@jonplandau) on Oct 26, 2020 at 9:44am PDT

Winslet has been mostly tight-lipped about her role in James Cameron’s sequel to his massive 2009 sci-fi blockbuster. She did allow in an August interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she is “a water person.”

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'Avatar: The Way of Water': Sigourney Weaver may have also broken Tom Cruise’s breath-holding record

Remember when Kate Winslet beat Tom Cruise's breath-holding record? Well, apparently she wasn't the only one.

Kate Winslet isn’t the only member of the Avatar sequel’s cast who has mastered The Way of Water . While there were headlines in November of 2020 that the Titanic actress had smashed Tom Cruise’s record for the longest underwater breath hold in a feature film while shooting  The Way of Water , she might not have been the only Na’vi to best the Mission: Impossible star. At a press conference ahead of the film’s Dec. 16 release attended by SYFY WIRE, the cast revealed that Sigourney Weaver may have beaten Cruise’s record as well. 

“People keep going on about smashing Tom Cruise’s record,” said Winslet, who held her breath for 7 minutes and 14 seconds during The Way of Water shoot, beating Cruise’s 6-minute Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation record. Turning to Weaver, she continued. “But, how do we know you haven’t smashed Tom Cruise’s record as well? Because you were like 6:30.”

“I’ve been a free diver for 50 years and you smoked past me,” said director James Cameron. “But Sig was very close.”

“It wasn’t a competition,” said Weaver.

“Apparently it was,” Cameron replied with a laugh.

RELATED: James Cameron has ideas for 'Avatar' 6 and 7 - if people actually show up to watch the other sequels

At another point in the press conference, Cameron reflected on his initial hesitancy to even make a sequel to Avatar , which was once the highest-grossing movie of all time. 

“Steven Spielberg didn’t do a sequel to E.T. ,” Cameron said. “Do you want to call down lightning to strike in the same place twice?”

Ultimately, he said it was largely his love for the cast that brought him back to Pandora. That might explain why two actors whose characters died in the first movie — Weaver (who played Dr. Grace Augustine in the first film) and Stephen Lang (who played Colonel Quaritch) have been resurrected, in a way, in the new film. Weaver plays Jake and Neytiri’s daughter Kiri, while Lang plays an Avatar embedded with the memories of his human life. 

“He’s coming back as the very thing he has been trying to destroy and having to make the adjustment to that,” Lang said of his character.

Despite the familiar faces (albeit it now-blue faces), Cameron teased that The Way of Water will take audiences to new places. 

“I think it’s important for a sequel to honor what an audience loved the first time, but also get them off balance,” he said. “There are a lot of surprises in this film that we’re not putting in the trailers or the TV spots.”

Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters on Dec. 16. 

Looking for more great sci-fi? Stream tons of great titles on Peacock .

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What Happened Between Tom Cruise And Kate Winslet?

Kate Winslet was able surpass an impressive record set by Tom Cruise.

Kate Winslet's Hollywood journey has featured a bit of everything. She's starred in smash hit films, earned prestigious industry awards , and has been able to make millions of dollars , all while entertaining fans around the world.Winslet recently joined the Avatar franchise, and in doing so, she underwent intense preparation for The Way of Water . In fact, the actress pulled off a record-breaking feat, and it's on that might be getting under Tom Cruise's skin.Let's take a look at this amazing accomplishment, and how Tom Cruise might be getting tired of hearing about it.

Kate Winslet Is One Of Hollywood’s Best And Most Respected Award-Winning Actresses

Since breaking out back in the 1990s, Kate Winslet has been one of the best actresses working in the game.

Winslet had gained some valuable experience early on, but things reached a fever pitch after she starred in James Cameron’s Titanic, the first film to ever gross more than $2 billion at the global box office.

Once she was off and running. Winslet was unstoppable. She’s starred in a variety of successful projects, and she earned critical acclaim for her work, all while being in contention for the biggest awards in the industry.

Winslet has been in the game for ages, and recently, she linked back up with James Cameron to take part in one of the most highly-anticipated films of 2022.

Related: The Shocking Thing Kate Winslet Did To Leonardo DiCaprio On Their First Day Shooting ‘Titanic’

Kate Winslet Starring In ‘Avatar 2: The Way Of Water’, Which Saw Her Undergo Intense Training

Avatar: The Way of Water is a sequel film that fans have had to wait over a decade for. While the anticipation was more than enough to get people excited for the film, Cameron wisely brought amazing performers into the franchise, including Kate Winslet.

Fan that have paid attention to production are well aware of the fact that production has been a long and arduous process, which makes the release of this film all the more impressive.

While filming the sequel, Winslet was able to do the unthinkable: hold her breath underwater for seven entire minutes.

“It was amazing. That's right, I was walking on the bottom of the tank. That's a big ceremonial sequence with those huge heavy wings. That was quite scary. The thing is, when you can hold your breath for seven minutes, you become unafraid."

"Actually, strangely, I was able to rely on my own ability to hold my breath for that long. Somehow I was not afraid, at all. And there's so much safety underwater. There are two safety divers on every performer. There are two safety divers on every underwater camera. There were so many people in that tank. I probably felt safer down there than I did on dry land,” the actress said.

The seven-minute breath hold that Winslet pulled off bested Tom Cruise’s previous record of 6 minutes.

Winslet hilariously took an opportunity to joke about the accomplishment.

Related: How Has Kate Winslet Managed To Keep Her Marriage To Edward Abel Smith Private?

Kate Winslet Broke Tom Cruise’s Underwater Record, And Joked About Cruise Being "Fed Up" Of Hearing About It

Said the star, “Poor Tom. I mean, I don't know Tom at all – I've never met him in my life – but I'm sure he's getting very fed up of hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. ... I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better.”

Good on Winslet for having some fun with her new record! It’s something that no one else has done, and it’s all in the name of filmmaking.

According to Sigourney Weaver, per USA Today, there was no competition on set. Instead, the cast and crew were simply supportive of one another.

“We were delighted for Kate that she did that. My husband (theater director Jim Simpson) and I both did 6 ½ minutes, which was astonishing to us and our teacher, Kirk Krack, who teaches the Navy SEALs. Everyone had a personal best,” Weaver said.

Now, is Tom Cruise actually sick of hearing about Kate Winslet breaking his previous record? Likely not. However, we can definitely see the star doing anything and everything possible to top Winslet’s new record. After all, this is the same guy that became a professional-level pool player all while preparing for a movie that may have forgotten about.

Related: Kate Winslet Missed Out On An Oscar While Trying To Send Hollywood A Message

While we wait for Cruise or another performer to attempt to break Winslet’s record, we can all take some time to go and check out her work in Avatar: The Way of Water , which appears to be on its way to making a fortune at the box office.

Tom Cruise Gets His First Criterion Collection Movie Set for 4K UHD Release

Not a single film with Tom Cruise has been in the lauded Criterion Collection, until now.

• Tom Cruise's Risky Business joins the prestigious Criterion Collection, marking a pivotal moment in his career.
• The film is praised for blending tender romance with a sharp critique of capitalism, even if it's goofy fun on the surface.
• Criterion's release includes a 4K UHD restoration, special features, and interviews, making it a must-have for film and Cruise enthusiasts.

Tom Cruise has been one of the biggest Hollywood stars for four decades, and has starred in almost 50 movies, but until today, none of them have been represented in the most prestigious film collection in the world — the Criterion Collection . The home media distributor collects the greatest or most culturally important films of all time and immaculately restores them and curates magnificent special features. And now, Cruise's 1983 film Risky Business will be the 1,227th movie added to the collection.

The Criterion Collection announced its inclusion today, April 15, with the film being released in 4K UHD (and Blu-ray) on July 23. Their summary of the film, famous for its underwear lip-sync scene, reads as follows:

" A sly piece of pop subversion, this irresistible satire of Reagan-era materialism features Tom Cruise in his star-is-born breakthrough as a Chicago suburban prepster whose college-bound life spirals out of control when his parents go out of town for the week and an enterprising call girl (Rebecca De Mornay) invites him to walk on the wild side. While Cruise boogying in his briefs yielded one of the most iconic pop-cultural moments of the 1980s, it is the film’s unexpected mix of tender romance (enhanced by a moody synth score by Tangerine Dream) and sharp-witted capitalist critique that remains fresh and daring."

Risky Business

Risky business special features and other july releases for criterion.

It's an interesting choice for the Criterion Collection, with many other Cruise films being considered superior ( Collateral, Eyes Wide Shut, The Color of Money, Magnolia ). Of course, there are licensing issues to be considered, but there are certainly good reasons for the inclusion of Risky Business . It's the film that truly announced Cruise as a cinematic presence, while also playfully deconstructing the typical sex comedies that were so popular at the time ( Porky's, Revenge of the Nerds ). The special features are as follows.

• New 4K digital restorations of the director’s cut and the original theatrical release, supervised and approved by director Paul Brickman and producer Jon Avnet, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary for the original theatrical release featuring Brickman, Avnet, and actor Tom Cruise
• New interviews with Avnet and casting director Nancy Klopper
• New conversation between editor Richard Chew and film historian Bobbie O’Steen
• The Dream Is Always the Same: The Story of “Risky Business,” a program featuring interviews with Brickman, Avnet, cast members, and others
• Screen tests with Cruise and actor Rebecca De Mornay
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Why Tom Cruise Won't Return as Jack Reacher

Risky Business joins several other films for Criterion's July releases. There's a 4K UHD restoration of the all-time classic, Le Samouraï , perhaps the coolest film ever made. Farewell, My Concubine is getting a release after its beautiful restoration in 2023. Black God, White Devil will get a release, finally bringing the brilliant Brazilian Western to the masses. Wim Wenders' astonishing 2023 film Perfect Days will get a home media release from Criterion, as well. Perhaps the best inclusion of them all, however, is Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid , Sam Peckinpah's underrated, melancholic Western masterpiece with a score from Bob Dylan. You can pre-order Risky Business below:

Visit The Criterion Collection

Quentin Tarantino ditches plans for his final movie, which would have reportedly starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as a returning character

The Movie Critic is no longer in the works

The Movie Critic will no longer be Quentin Tarantino's tenth and final movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter , with the director returning to the drawing board for his last feature film.

The now-scrapped project, which would have been set in 1977 and followed a cynical movie critic, was set to star Brad Pitt – and he was reportedly set to return as his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood character, stuntman Cliff Booth. Tom Cruise and John Travolta were also rumored to be circling the project . According to The Hollywood Reporter, the director, who has long said he would only direct 10 movies, had a change of heart about The Movie Critic and has moved away from it entirely. 

Tarantino's last movie was 2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards. In the time since his most recent big-screen release, Tarantino has turned his attention to the world of publishing – he has written a novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and a non-fiction book, Cinema Speculation, which is a deep-dive into '70s movies and was inspired by the work of the critic Pauline Kael. 

The filmmaker was also set to helm a Star Trek movie with The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith, announced back in 2017, which reportedly featured time travel and "gangster scenes," but that project never got off the ground either.  

While we wait for Tarantino's final project to hit the big screen, check out our guide to the biggest upcoming movies on the way in 2024. 

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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

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