A History of Kate Winslet and James Cameron's Relationship: Why Their Reunion for Avatar Is Raising Eyebrows

Kate Winslet is joining the Avatar cast.

The Oscar-winning actress is reuniting with her former Titanic director James Cameron for the upcoming Avatar sequels. Cameron told Deadline of the reunion, "Kate and I have been looking for something to do together for 20 years, since our collaboration on Titanic, which was one of the most rewarding of my career. I can't wait to see her bring the character of Ronal to life."

While the reunion might seem very exciting from the outside, it might be pretty shocking to those who remember Winslet's comments about working with the director on Titanic.

After filming the movie over 20 years ago, and getting pneumonia in the process, Winslet talked to the Los Angeles Times about working with Cameron. "I would only work for Jim Cameron again for a lot of money," she was reported to have said. 

The actress went on to tell Rolling Stone in a 1998 interview that she was "misinterpreted" and Cameron didn't take offense to the comments, saying Winslet was "just letting off steam" after making the movie.

In the same interview, Winslet discussed her relationship with her body. The nickname that Cameron reportedly gave her, "Kate Weighs-a-Lot" was mentioned in the article. "I was chubby as a child," Winslet said. "When I was sixteen, I was fat. It was a family thing. We're all big eaters. My uncle is a chef. My mother is a fantastic cook. Kind of unavoidable. I sensibly lost the weight doing Weight Watchers. End of story."

In 2012, Winslet and Cameron posed for photos together at the Titanic 3D premiere. Winslet also defended Cameron, explaining that while he did lose his temper on the Titanic set, it was only for "really, really good reasons."

The actress told the PA (via Independent), "Yes, it was hard, but no one ever said it was going to be easy. When all the stories started emerging about how tough it had been and Jim Cameron being mean to everybody and costs over-running, I went, wait a minute, what makes these people think they can speculate about all of this? They weren't there."

She continued, "Yes, he lost his temper, but he only ever lost his temper for really, really good reasons. Like we would spend days literally setting up a shot, and if someone isn't doing his job and dumps water 10 seconds too late, then we've got to start over. ... Yeah, I could understand that man getting a little (ticked) off."

So though it appears that the two have had a good relationship post-Titanic, it does seem interesting that Winslet would choose to work with Cameron again. Especially since back in March, Winslet gave an empowering speech about being body shamed when she was younger. And just months later, Cameron started dissing Wonder Woman, expressing why he wasn't impressed with the movie, calling it a "step backwards."

He went on to make more sexist comments about the movie starring Gal Gadot in September and was then called a "pour soul" by actress Lynda Carter in response to his statements. Carter's response came less than a week before the Winslet-Cameron reunion was announced. Talk about timing.

What do you think about Winslet and Cameron reuniting for Avatar? Sound off in the comments!