"It was great," Weaver told reporters in New York Monday. "I'm so fond of him personally. He loves actors; he's such a good director. ... I can't believe it's been 20 years. We picked up like we'd never been apart, like an old married couple."

Weaver, who will soon be seen in the big-screen comedy "Baby Mama," said Cameron called and asked if she'd like to star in "Avatar."

"We had a long talk about what he had not been doing and what he had been doing and how he really wanted me to do this character," Weaver recalled. "He had thought about making it a man, as well, but had decided, in the end, that he wanted it to be a woman and he wanted it to be me.

"And it's such a great -- like all of his women characters -- it was a great woman character and I teased him because, to me, I'm playing James Cameron in the movie ... with his kind of brilliant, scientific approach, driven, idealistic, perfectionistic, but with great heart underneath."