“We had to be very delicate about that scene,” Weaver says of filming a romantic moment opposite Jack Champion, who was 14 or 15 at the time.

Sigourney Weaver addresses ‘legitimate’ concern over kissing scene with teen *Avatar *costar

"We had to be very delicate about that scene," Weaver says of filming a romantic moment opposite Jack Champion, who was 14 or 15 at the time.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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December 22, 2025 5:58 p.m. ET

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Sigourney Weaver as Kiri and Jack Champion as Spider in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'. Credit:

**This article contains spoilers about *Avatar: Fire and Ash.***

Sigourney Weaver knows that the real-life age gap between her and her *Avatar: Fire and Ash* love interest may have some audiences worried, especially when it comes to their romantic scene.

The actress, 76, is now clarifying whether she actually kissed her costar, Jack Champion, who is 21 now but was between 14 and 16 while playing Spider.

"That scene where I say, 'You're perfect just as you are,' we had to be very delicate about that scene because it included a kiss," Weaver told* The Hollywood Reporter*. "Obviously, I wasn't going to kiss Jack, who was 14 or 15, in real life."

Weaver originally played adult human scientist Grace Augustine in James Cameron's first *Avatar* film, before the character's onscreen death. She returned in the sequels *Avatar: The Way of Water *and* Avatar: Fire and Ash* as Kiri, the teenage Na'vi-Avatar hybrid cloned from Grace's avatar, who was adopted into the Sully clan by Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña).

Sigourney Weaver and Jack Champion.

Jesse Grant/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

In the third film (now playing in theaters), Kiri and teen human Spider — the biological son of Stephen Lang's Quaritch — grow closer, and ultimately share a kiss during a romantic scene.

Weaver revealed that when it came to that scene in particular, she and filmmaker Cameron, 71, asked Champion "to pick someone I could kiss and he did. Then I imagine when I wasn't there, they picked someone appropriate for Jack."

She felt that filming the scene separately, with age-appropriate actors standing in for each other, helped keep it all above board, which was top of mind for all involved.

"That concern about all of that, which is quite legitimate, was going on," she promised. "And I’m glad the scene survived, because when I saw it, I believed it. It’s so genuine between the two of them, and any concern about Jack’s real age and my real age, I think there’s no room for it there."

Jack Champion on Spider's 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' role, romancing Kiri, and 'Endgame' cameo

James Cameron tried writing 'Avatar' sequels without Spider: 'It all fell apart'

Weaver went on to confirm that the kiss was the only time she and Champion filmed separately.

"It was only that one moment," she said. "It was like a little vacation whenever we had a scene [together] because we're frolicking. It's kind of a time off for me because she's so deliriously happy; she enjoys his company so much. I don't know how tall I'm supposed to be, like 6'4, and he's what, 5'8 or something, and I tower over him — and you can really see it in the film. Being a tall woman myself, height doesn't matter at all. I love that we're mismatched. It's perfect."

Speaking with ** previously, Champion described his experience filming Spider's romantic relationship with Weaver's Kiri as "unique."

"I've been asked, 'Is it difficult?'" Champion told EW. "But since Sigourney is Sigourney, she's so good at acting, and we're literally in a performance-capture Volume where it's gray. We know that our imagination is our main weapon. So when she's acting, it is very unique, but it was so easy 'cause she's such a good actress. I just reacted off her. So, I guess, it wasn't that hard, and it wasn't insane after the first couple days."

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The young actor remembered how he and Weaver had instant chemistry, even in the screen test where they first met.

"I think we maybe had one scripted scene, but then for the next like 30 minutes, Sigourney and I just literally riffed," he said. "We really just used our imagination, and it was fun. Really, since the very beginning, Sigourney and I have been so locked in imaginatively that I've always been able see Sigourney, then see Kiri."

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