Marc Maron says that while he got a box of cigars as a consolation from James Cameron for auditioning for a part in his Avatar sequel, the entire experience was “ridiculous.”
While speaking to Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz for a recent 92Y conversation, Maron opened up about going out for a role in Way of Water. The comedian and actor described a somewhat disorienting process that left him feeling “untethered”, according to a report on www.hollywoodreporter.com.
“You go out there, you go to this office and he’s like, ‘I want you to read,'” he recalled. “I don’t even know what it was, a doctor, a scientist who drank.”
“I’m on camera, I think. I got a picture, a boat, or whatever the fuck it is,” he said at another point in the interview. “I’m in the middle of this thing and I’m totally untethered and I have no sense of character. I don’t know really what’s happening other than there are several unidentified actors and acrobats all around me.”
Maron said that his agent felt like he may get the role, but the writer-actor was pretty convinced it wasn’t happening — and not just because of how the audition went. “My agent was like, ‘You’re probably going to go to New Zealand for four years,’ or whatever the fuck it was,” he said, adding that it was “some ridiculous amount of time.”
“I’m like, ‘It’s not happening,'” he continued. “I have nothing invested other than the experience of, like, ‘Alright, I’ll go take the meeting.’ Then [Cameron] sent me a box of cigars because he didn’t cast me.”
The Glow star and podcaster said that it was ultimately a “ridiculous” experience and a job he didn’t want.
“Why the fuck would I want that job?” he said, before clarifying that his issue wasn’t with the director, but the experience. “James Cameron is not a bad guy, I don’t think, I don’t know.”
Maron added that the role ultimately felt like not a match, in part because of the level of involvement. “There’s this assumption that, ‘We’re going to do four Avatar movies,'” he said. “Dude, I don’t even remember the first one.”
