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Oona Chaplin brings some serious fire to the “Avatar” sci-fi franchise as its newest antagonist. But playing the villain Varang – who’s very much the heroine of her own story – was also a life lesson for the actress with a familiar last name.
“I learned to take up more space, and not to apologize for just being there,” says the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin. Varang "would teach me and then I would bring it and then she would teach me again. It was very cool.”
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” (in theaters Dec. 19), the third movie in director James Cameron’s blockbuster series, catches up with Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their Na’vi family on Pandora a year after the death of eldest son Neteyam.
The new adventure finds them meeting – and coming into conflict with – the Ash People, a clan led by the zealous Varang who are forever changed by tragedy and trauma. And her teaming with bad guy Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) creates more problems for the returning heroes.
USA TODAY has an exclusive sneak peek at the new “Avatar” character, portrayed by Chaplin via performance capture technology. Here’s what you need to know about Varang, Chaplin and her iconic family legacy:
The new villain in ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ has a tragic backstory
Chaplin, 39, a veteran of TV shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Taboo” and “Black Mirror,” acknowledges that Varang is unlike any other character she’s played. “I’ve been a good person for most of my career,” she says with a laugh. Varang “is very fierce.”
And the Ash clan is also different from the other Na’vi that “Avatar” fans have met because they have an antagonistic relationship with the deity Eywa. Varang and her people lived near a volcano until it erupted and everything was destroyed. “When they really needed Eywa, Eywa wasn't there and didn't show up for them,” Chaplin says. “So you can imagine the depth of despair and the grief and the pain.”
In the aftermath, Varang harnessed the power of the thing that devastated them – fire – and became its devotee. She then galvanized the Ash clan and turned their trauma into their greatest strength.
“When they go into battle, it's just like nothing you've ever seen. It's like a wildfire. They're unstoppable," says Chaplin, whose Varang combines smarts with power. “She's spicy, man. I really like her. I wouldn't go about things in the same way, but I have a lot of compassion for her because she does what she has to do.”
Oona Chaplin channels Idris Elba, taps into imagination to play Varang in 'Avatar'
Chaplin got into Varang’s aggressive headspace by listening to a lot of voice-and-drum powwow music, rehearsing with her blade weapons and watching Idris Elba’s ruthless warlord in “Beasts of No Nation.” But a lot of it came just working in performance capture, which she calls “one of the most liberating experiences of acting that I've ever had.”
The actress likens it to being at a playground as a kid: “You can go as big or as small as you want, as long as it's truthful,” Chaplin says. "But she's such a far cry from me. To work myself up into such a tizzy that I had the courage to become the force that she is, it was a real experiment in imagination."
There's a saying that "you can't play the king; that people around you have to play that you are the king,” she adds. “A lot of the magnificence is everybody else playing along with the fact that I had that kind of sway.”
New ‘Avatar’ star is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter
Born in Madrid, Oona Chaplin is the daughter of three-time Golden Globe nominee Geraldine Chaplin, who starred in classics such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Nashville.” (She’s named after her grandmother Oona O’Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.)
Her grandfather, Charlie, is a very, very powerful light that shines brightly still for all of us,” Oona Chaplin says. But while she got into the business early, “I’ve been quitting acting pretty much since I started,” she adds with a laugh. That family legacy is something Chaplin had to come to terms with: “I made a switch at one point in my late 20s from guilt to gratitude, from like, ‘Oh, God, I don't deserve to be here’ to ‘OK, I'm here. How can I be here in a good way?’ Try and honor him by showing up in the best way that I can and doing my best.”
She’s found that being a storyteller is just in her nature. “It’s incredible to tell a story that touches so many people,” Chaplin says of popular franchises like "Avatar" and "Game of Thrones." "People are moved by these stories because they elevate us and they inspire us to be ourselves – imperfect and in all of the ways. And nobody has ever done that better than Chaplin himself.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meet 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' villain Varang in our exclusive sneak peek
Reporting by Brian Truitt, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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