Photo: Courtesy Joel David Moore, Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Courtesy Joel David Moore

Moore says cast and crew were wonderful with Ollie, who is now five, and that he only filmed one day and for a few minutes at a time.“The rules [for filming with children] are very specific,” he says. “Ollie could only actually shoot for 15 minutes at a time. I think that he probably spent a total of maybe even 15 minutes between a couple different takes altogether. So it was a really quick session.“Ollie’s big moment in the movie occurs early on, during a flashback when Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are presenting their newborn son to their Omaticaya clan.

“I will never forget when Katherine brought Ollie to Zoe [for the scene] and Zoe said, ‘Oh, you’ve got that new mama shine,’ to Katherine. And then she just blushed. It was just such a fun moment,” Moore says.

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

“And as Norm, I was supposed to be very engaged in the newborn Na’vi with the clan, with the rest of the Omaticaya clan. And what I didn’t realize is that I would just start bawling, crying in the scene because it was my son. And I had to go and say [to director James Cameron], ‘Look Jim, I’m going to pull it back the next one. I think I just had to get one of those out. This is a special moment.’ It was really fun for my wife as well. She is a grounded, wonderful woman and mother. But when she got to that set and saw Ollie up there she lost it as well. We were just both bubbling with tears. It was a really fun moment.“Moore continues: “And it was really nice because he had a trailer right next to my trailer. It said ‘O. Moore’ on his trailer and then ‘Joel David Moore’ on my trailer. So Oliver just worked one day and I think that about five, maybe seven minutes in he just starts crying because he doesn’t know what’s going on and where his mom is. But Zoe did such a wonderful, job. Zoe is a wonderful mother and she plays a wonderful mother.So she had all the tools to be able to help with Ollie. He probably had two or three takes total, something around there, which is the shortest amount of takes that maybe has ever happened onAvatar.”

Looking ahead to the nextAvatarmovie, Moore teases that his character Norm definitely has “a lovely journey ahead of him. “My role is really interesting and really fun and it will continue to be fun in the future,” he says. “The storylines just get richer, more robust. The world of Pandora expands in a really lovely way. I’ve read, obviously, we shot two and three at the same time. And I’ve read four and I’m telling you there is so much joy to come in the world ofAvatar. I can’t say too much about the actual storylines, but Norm has a really fun, lovely journey ahead of him.He continues: “It’s not about my small part of this big machine, it’s about everybody coming together and finding the joy of filmmaking in a hybrid between tech and emotional quality. The third film is going to be even more [emotional]. We’re just piling on every time with the emotions because every time that you take that next step with that family, it’s going to be a more emotional journey. And the beautiful thing about that is Jim [Cameron] is never going to leave a question unanswered.”

Mark Fellman/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

In addition to the upcomingAvatarsequels, Moore has several other film projects in the works, both in front of and behind the camera.“I have a few lovely movies coming out. I did a movie with Ron Perlman calledThe Bakerthat I’m very proud of. It’s an action drama and I play Ron’s son; I have a picture calledDaniel’s Got to Diewith Bob Saget. It’s actually Bob’s last movie. I was able to get to know Bob really well. I’d never met him before this film and we really went on a really fun journey together,” Moore says. “The other film that I have that will come out later in the year is calledRetirement Planwith Nicholas Cage. I have a fun smaller role in that and it was such an honor to be working with Nicholas on that.”

He continues: “And I just directed a film calledSome Other Womanwith Amanda Crew, Tom Felton and Ashley Green. It’s probably my favorite film that I’ve ever directed. It’s almost like a folklore film about a woman who finds herself in a very strange scenario on an island that I would describe as a ‘gaslighting haunt.'”

source: people.com