UC Riverside botanist part of Avatar team

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When the movie Avatar opens one week from today, watch Sigourney Weaver carefully. She was coached to dress, move and act like a botanist by UC Riverside professor of plant physiology Jodie Holt.

"I met with her in her trailer in a sound studio in Playa del Rey in Los Angeles, and we had a long conversation," Holt said in a question-and-answer session that was written up by UC Riverside News Service. "I gave Weaver advice on topics like how a botanist would approach a plant and take samples."

That was two years ago. In 2008, movie director James Cameron approached Holt once again for her expertise. He wanted a plant expert's help in making up plausible botanical descriptions for the fictitious vegetation he created for video games based on the movie.

"Some of these plants are fluorescent, some can move, some can fire things off. Clearly, we’re not in Kansas anymore!" Holt said, borrowing a line from the movie's trailer.

The San Bernardino Sun ran a article about Holt's work on Avatar (which is no longer available free on its Web site), and a Los Angeles Times blogger picked up on that story. Perhaps Holt will get more media attention when the movie premieres Dec. 18.

In the meantime, Holt has plans to see the movie at least twice. She will attend the premiere screening Dec. 15 with the cast and crew at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, during which she will sit back and take in the big picture, according to the UCR release. Later, she will watch the movie again to scrutinize the environment and plants of Pandora, the lush moon light-years away from Earth where the Avatar adventure unfolds.

Jodie Holt.