'Poor Tom': Kate Winslet reacts to breaking Tom Cruise's underwater breath-holding record
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kate Winslet, held her breath underwater for seven minutes and 47 seconds while filming the James Cameron blockbuster "Avatar: The Way of Water". It has crushed Tom Cruise's previously held record, which he set in 2015 while filming 'Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation' by holding his breath for six minutes underwater.
So far, Cruise hasn't contacted Winslet regarding the incident but she hasn't stopped joking about "Poor Tom." Winslet trained intensively in free-diving in the months preceding production to learn how to hold her breath underwater for the film's various sequences as underwater seafaring Na'vi, Ronal. Notably, her husband, Edward Abel Smith, practiced alongside her to show his support.
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"Poor Tom," Winslet told USA Today. "I mean, I don't know Tom at all – I've never met him in my life – but I'm sure he's getting very fed up with hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. ... I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better." Winslet also credited her husband for helping her practice."Ned is an extremely fit, healthy person and is capable of a great many things," Winslet says. "He trained with me so that if I needed to practice without our instructor there we were safe because you really can't do it by yourself. It's the same as scuba diving: You have to have a buddy. It's a sport, it's a skill, and your body adjusts to be able to do that thing. So having Ned there was very important."
Earlier in an interview with Total Film Winslet revealed she had a recorded video of herself emerging out of the water, "I have the video of me surfacing saying, 'Am I dead, have I died?' And then going, 'What was [my time]?'", adding, "Straight away I wanted to know my time. And I couldn't believe it. The next thing I say is, 'We need to radio set.' I wanted [director James Cameron] to know right away."
She ended up simply trying the seven-minute, 15-second breath hold in order to shatter the record previously held by Tom Cruise. Winslet told the outlet, "Well, I didn't have to hold my breath for over seven minutes," Winslet explained. "It's just that the opportunity to set a record presented itself." Sigourney Weaver 73, Winslet's co-star, claims there was no breath-holding competition among the "Avatar" cast. "We were delighted for Kate that she did that," Weaver says. "My husband (theater director Jim Simpson) and I both did 6 ½ minutes, which was astonishing to us and our teacher, Kirk Krack, who teaches the Navy SEALs. Everyone had a personal best."