Actor Mabel Cadena was relieved just how long she was able to hold her breath after training for her role as Namora in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and it wasn’t too far off of Kate Winslet’s record.
We were treated to two great films last year that involved a great deal of underwater action. The first being the sequel to Black Panther which introduced us to Talokan, an aquatic kingdom ruled over by Namor. A month later, Avatar: The Way of Water hit theaters, and we got to see more of Pandora and learned about the reef clan, a water-based society who aided the Sully family.
Due to the settings of both blockbusters, the actors were required to shoot large portions of their scenes underwater. This meant training to hold their breath for extended periods of time. In an interview with ScreenRant, Cadena spoke about the process and how the actors worked with professionals in order to increase their breath capacity.
Kate Winslet underwent the same training in order to play her role as Ronal, the matriarch of the water clan from the Avatar sequel. She also set a very impressive record for holding her breath, with the Oscar winner able to remain under water for over seven minutes!
Cadena’s record wasn’t far off of the Avatar star’s, either, after the Wakanda Forever alum also revealed that she came very close to breaking the record.
“My first immersion was around 30 seconds, and the same day I [was able to do] six minutes and 35 seconds. The training was amazing, because in the same day I can have a big difference [from] my first immersion to my second immersion. I’m very competitive, so Chris, my coach, told me, “Kate Winslet has the record, so if you want to be the winner, you need to learn a lot of things.” I really was over Kate Winslet [at one point], but now I don’t have time for a better record.”
It seems like there was quite a competition between who could hold their breath the longest. Regardless, both records are impressive considering the average person can only hold their breath for around a minute.
If you want to see the breath-holding in action, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is available to stream on Disney Plus.