<\/p>\nAs Avatar: Fire & Ash <\/em>hits theaters everywhere and audiences make their grand return to Pandora, Men’s Health <\/em>sat down with Champion to talk James Cameron’s fatherly energy, channeling Spider’s feral rage, and everything that goes into spending your life in a sci-fi movie. <\/p>\n\n\n
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Allie Holloway<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\nMEN’S HEALTH: How long did it take you every day to get your Spider wig and costume on? <\/strong><\/p>\nJACK CHAMPION: <\/strong>Two and a half hours. Honestly, we got it down to a science with the wig, and then they’d spray. They made these molds out of my body at Weta Workshops, so they’d mold my body and then they’d cut out from the mold where the stripes would be. Then they just sprayed me with this blue paint. The hardest part was the detail: “Okay, so he’s been running through the jungle. He could have this cut here, this cut here, a big gash here,” and that stuff would take over an hour, but that was the most important part for continuity.<\/p>\nMH: Do you feel pressure sharing scenes with legends like Sigourney Weaver or Stephen Lang? <\/strong><\/p>\nJC: <\/strong>Maybe at first. In the very beginning, I was a little intimidated, but so quickly they were so good at being so lovely and accepting. I was a kid. I was 12 years old. Slang, Sam [Worthington], Sigourney, they were all just so nice and so parental, and just nice, lovely people. There was no ego or any like, “I’m a big actor.” They were all just normal people who had families, had kids, and I met them throughout the years. It really quickly became such a nice friendship and working environment.<\/p>\nMH: Your character, Spider, and Sigourney’s character, Kiri, have a very close relationship in the films. Did you do any extra work off-camera to build that?<\/strong><\/p>\nJC: <\/strong>Monday through Friday for years, we would work together, and while you’re working together, there are just so many moments off camera. Whether it be lunches, whether it just be talking in between scenes, you just get to know someone naturally that way. <\/p>\nMH: Spider has this interesting dynamic of being sort of a son to both Quaritch and Jake Sully (Worthington). How did you see that <\/strong>dynamic? <\/strong><\/p>\nJC:<\/strong> The Sullys just went through the horrible death of Neteyam, and Spider specifically feels torn. He’s like, “This badass colonel\u2014but evil dude\u2014is my dad,” and obviously he’s evil, but Spider, timeline-wise, had spent weeks with him. He had been like, “Oh, wow, this guy… he has charm to him. He has a sense of humor. He has qualities that aren’t just pure evil,” and he sees that. But then the third act happens, and he’s completely torn. You see how that tornness unravels in the third film pretty spectacularly.<\/p>\nMH: Spider’s often walking around on all fours, hanging from trees\u2014how did you prepare for this role? <\/strong><\/p>\nJC:<\/strong> Growing up in small-town Virginia, in the mountains, I was often running around barefoot. I grew up climbing trees. Getting muddy and dirty was a part of everyday life. It was fun. That aspect of Spider came so easily to me. The part that really took a lot of preparation was the archery lessons, the knife fighting lessons, even the parkour to an extent\u2014there’s vaulting and this and that. We went to a place called Tempest Parkour Gym twice a week, just to get that down.<\/p>\nFor years, I also trained my body to get the right muscle tone, to look like I worked out, and I worked out with my trainer, Josh Murillo, who is like a brother to me. I really want him to get the credit he deserves, because for four and a half years, he and I worked together, and we trained from LA to New Zealand, just preparing my body for the live-action shoot to look like I was lean enough and I didn’t grow up … you know, there’s no processed foods. There’s no junk food on Pandora. It’s all meat, veggies, fruit, and constantly running throughout the jungle, so what would that look like on a young person?<\/p>\n
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Capital Pictures \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\u00a920th Century Studios\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMH: Did James Cameron give any specific notes on that side of things? <\/strong><\/p>\nJC: <\/strong>No. He pretty much let us do our thing, just besides generally being Tarzan-looking and fit. Then Josh took that, and was like, “Alright, we’re going to do that.” We had two years of preparation for me to get there, and I hope we pulled it off. <\/p>\nMH: How do you think your training will evolve for future Avatar <\/em><\/em>movies?<\/strong><\/p>\nJC: <\/strong>If and when we do Four and Five, Spider’s going to be older, so there’ll probably be more muscle, more muscle tone, stuff like that. There will probably be even more focus on the weightlifting aspect. Obviously, the main thing about Spider is still mobility. As I’m in the in-between part from filming Two and Three and Four and Five, I’ve really just focused on lightweight bodybuilding stuff to keep a general nice frame that I like.<\/p>\nA lot of it is mobility, calisthenic-type stuff. I do a lot of running. I’ve recently gotten into hot yoga, which is honestly … it sounds so Hollywood, but it’s really good. Anyone should give it a try, young or old. A lot of stretching, because I’m so inflexible\u2014I’m just now getting to a point where I feel comfortable with my flexibility, and that helps in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Allie Holloway<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\nMH: Have you taken anything away from shooting The Way of Water <\/em>and Fire & Ash <\/em>back to back?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nJC:<\/strong> Just grit, man. So much grit went into filming Avatar<\/em>. There were so many days that were physically hard, because I’m in my loin cloth. We’re in a cold studio in New Zealand, and whether that be filming in a tank underwater, or filming a scene where I just got out of a river or the ocean, so they have to dump a bucket of water on me… man, I’m cold. There were so many aspects where I’m like, “Mentally, if I can do this, I can do anything.” If I can film for three months straight in a full face mask, scuba, underwater swimming all day, or if I can be wet and cold all day and do a good job, keep a good attitude, if I can do that, everything else will be a piece of cake.<\/p>\nMH: Were you a big fan of James Cameron before all this?<\/strong><\/p>\nJC:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. I grew up with Aliens<\/em>. I grew up with Terminator<\/em>, Terminator 2<\/em>, The Abyss<\/em>. I loved all of his movies. Dude’s a legend. I would geek out in between takes sometimes, where it would just be him, and I would just ask him questions. “Tell me this about Aliens<\/em> lore, tell me this about The<\/em> Terminator.<\/em>” I mean, he was right there, so of course I’m going to ask him all the annoying questions.<\/p>\n