B.C. family recalls 'amazing' experience working on new Avatar movie

A new film that is being promoted as "a movie event of a generation" holds special meaning for two generations of a Campbell River, B.C., family.

Father and daughter Kirk and Kaila Krack worked on the new movie Avatar: The Way of Water, and attended the cast premier in Los Angeles on Dec. 12.

"It was amazing. It's not a red carpet, it's a blue carpet because it's oceans," says Kirk, who worked as a free-diving coach on the production. "It was quite the spectacle."

Through his company Performance Freediving Academy, Kirk instructed the movie's cast on diving techniques, including being able to hold their breath for extended periods.

"Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Zoe Saldana. We had six kids from age six to 16 that I had to train, as well" he said.

Kirk says he considers the film, which opens in theatres Friday, to not only be the world's biggest diving movie but also an advocacy film for ocean and marine environments.

"It's really about free-divers on another planet and the pressure that the oceans of Pandora are under and all the strife that happens there," he said. "There's a parallel to here."

The older Krack also saw his daughter Kaila work on the production, doubling for the young actress Trinity Bliss in underwater work.

She says the opportunity to be involved in the film came about unexpectedly.

“I just happened to be in L.A. visiting my dad and they called and wanted me and I was super excited to be able to go in," Kaila said.

"I had already been swimming in the tank and I really wanted to do a little bit in Avatar so it was really a great honour to be chosen to help,” she said.

Kaila says she was equipped with motion-capture gear while in the tank. “I was decked out in the whole suit with the little balls and everything,” she said.

The younger Krack didn't need much training from her father though. He says she has practised free-diving since she was four years old and he was "super proud" to have her in the production.

"I mean, Avatar is about family. It's about being in the water and breath-hold diving and that's what we are," he said.

The pair hope the film will help educate audiences about protecting the oceans.

“I’m really passionate with the ocean and trying to keep it alive because it is our life source," Kaila said. "The ocean keeps everything alive."

“One out of every two breaths we take we owe to the top five metres of the oceans," Kirk said.

"They’re so important and water has all these amazing and unique properties, yet we really don’t give it the respect that it deserves."

Members of the mid-island diving community and the Exploration Diving Society of British Columbia are planning to attend a screening of the movie Friday.

"We’ve all decided we’re going to go and celebrate," Kirk said. "Celebrate the biggest diving movie ever and the kind of local successes that are brought to it, so it’ll be fun."