Kate Winslet undertaking free diving lessons for Avatar role

Actress Kate Winslet has been learning how to free dive in preparation for her role in the upcoming Avatar sequels.

The British beauty is reuniting with her Titanic director James Cameron for the follow-up films to his hit 2009 sci-fi epic, portraying a character called Ronal, and she cannot wait to get started, as production is already underway.

"She blazed through for a couple of days of rehearsals and saw the world that we had created, and how we do the work, and she's very excited," Cameron shared with Vanity Fair. "She plays a character who's part of the Sea People, the reef people."

The filmmaker reveals Kate had one stipulation about taking on a role in the Avatar franchise.

"The one thing she did do is demand that she do all her own water work," he explained. "I said, 'All right, that's fine, we'll have to teach you how to free dive.'"

Kate, 42, will have to work hard to catch up to the skill level of her Sea People co-stars.

Cameron continued, "The other actors are up to three and four-minute breath holds. We've already been doing underwater capture. We did a scene last week with six teenagers, well, actually five teenagers and one seven-year-old underwater holding their breath for a couple minutes and acting, actually doing a dialogue scene under water because they speak kind of a sign language."

Winslet signed on to the project in October (17), joining a line-up which already includes leading stars Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington, alongside Sigourney Weaver.

Avatar 2, the first of four planned sequels, is set for release in December, 2020, followed by Avatar 3 a year later (Dec21).

Avatar 4 is currently pegged for release in 2024, with the fifth film arriving in movie theatres in 2025.