<\/p>
Australian actor Sam Worthington, now 46, had tried and failed for many years to break into Hollywood. He even auditioned for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale \u2014 \u201cI would have been another George Lazenby,\u201d he jokes.<\/p>\n
But then, after selling everything he owned \u2013 save for a bag of clothes and a bag of books \u2013 he was invited to audition for the lead role of Jake Sully in Avatar. The studio, Fox, didn\u2019t want him. They wanted someone more established, a star. But James Cameron believed in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man changed my life,\u201d Worthington says, leaving little doubt of whether he ever considered not returning for a sequel. \u201cIf the boss says, \u2018jump\u2019, I jump. I\u2019m his soldier, man.\u201d He\u2019s even on board for Cameron\u2019s proposed five-movie saga. \u201cI\u2019ve read all of the scripts,\u201d he says. \u201cI know exactly where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve grown a lot in my career thanks to Avatar and the doors that it opened for me,\u201d says co-star Zoe Saldana, who plays Jake\u2019s wife Neyteri, but is perhaps better known for her role as Gamora in Marvel\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy<\/a> movies.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel grateful to be part of something so special. But the test when it came to the sequel was time. We were always waiting. \u2018Is it gonna be now? Is it gonna be now?\u2019\u201d<\/p> When the call finally did come years later, it found a Worthington and Saldana that had grown almost in parallel with their characters. Worthington, for instance, describes the young man who walked into his Avatar audition as \u201cfearless and reckless, similar to Jake in the first film\u201d.<\/p>\n But Jake has changed. He\u2019s a family man now, a father of five, and not the wild Na\u2019vi warrior he used to be. Worthington can relate. In 2014, he married Australian model Lara Bingle, and together they now have three children.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re young, you can risk it all,\u201d he says. \u201cBut as soon as you become a dad, your head\u2019s on a swivel, because you\u2019re always looking out for them.\u201d<\/p>