{"id":270436,"date":"2025-10-01T23:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/270436\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T23:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:42:14","slug":"james-cameron-on-ai-avatar-2-re-release-fire-and-ash-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/270436\/","title":{"rendered":"James Cameron on AI, ‘Avatar 2’ Re-Release, ‘Fire and Ash’ Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJames Cameron<\/a> prefers not to revisit his movies after they\u2019ve opened in theaters. \u201cI usually have a moratorium of a couple of years where I just don\u2019t want to think about it,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain point when you\u2019ve been away from where you could start to be more of an audience and less of a picky filmmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filmmaker had to break that rule, however, with 2022\u2019s \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water<\/a>,\u201d because of the impending release of the third film in the series, \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>,\u201d in December. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re going through the finish of the VFX now [on \u2018Fire and Ash\u2019] \u2014 we have been, really, for the last two years, but we\u2019re really coming down to the wire now,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I want to be thematically consistent about the way music was used and underscore during dialogue scenes and things like that. So I have rewatched it. It\u2019s a pretty good ride, I have to say!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAudiences will have their own chance to re-watch \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d on the big screen on Oct. 3, when the film \u2014 which grossed $2.3 billion worldwide \u2014\u00a0is re-released into theaters<\/a> in anticipation of \u201cFire and Ash.\u201d The former film traces the family saga of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Salda\u00f1a) after the events of 2009\u2019s \u201cAvatar,\u201d when they defeated the military assault on the Na\u2019vi by Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). In the sequel, set 16 years later, Jake and Neytiri have a clan of five children, including an adopted daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), born from the inert Na\u2019vi avatar of Weaver\u2019s deceased human character from the 2009 film, Dr. Grace Augustine, and a quasi-adopted human son, Spider (Jack Champion), who was orphaned when his biological parents, including Quaritch, died in battle. Quaritch is resurrected in \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d into his own Na\u2019vi avatar, and he resumes his relentless pursuit of the Sully family, which puts Spider in the middle of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview with Variety, Cameron discussed what else from \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d will pay off in \u201cFire and Ash,\u201d the major change he made to \u201cFire and Ash\u201d after he\u2019d finished filming, how the future of the \u201cAvatar\u201d franchise (Disney has a fourth and fifth film dated for 2029 and 2031) could affect\u00a0his plans to direct a feature adaptation of the book<\/a> \u201cGhosts of Hiroshima,\u201d and why he is working to make the visual effects process a more \u201ccreative culture.\u201d (Note: This interview was conducted on Sept. 26, before the controversy started over AI performance simulation Tilly Norwood.)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJames Cameron on the set of \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMark Fellman \/ 20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen you re-watch your films, do you find that allows you to discover new things about the movie that you hadn\u2019t noticed before?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt does in the sense that you start to realize how much of filmmaking is subconscious and can\u2019t be quantified. My job all day long is to quantify minutia. I\u2019m looking at a VFX shot: \u201cOK, you see the way his foot comes down on that one fern and the way it brushes aside. I\u2019m not quite buying that. I think you should re-sim that.\u201d I mean, it\u2019s endless. It\u2019s every detail, every blade of grass, every flicker of fire, all of the lighting interactions, and you get so down into the weeds that it takes stepping back and seeing the film to realize that there\u2019s a big unconscious driver that\u2019s running underneath all of that detail that\u2019s telling you when you\u2019ve got the essence of the moment. And so when I see the film, I go, \u201cOh, that actually works. I actually feel what I\u2019m supposed to be feeling.\u201d I guess what I see after the fact is, yeah, I get sucked down the rabbit hole of the details, but I don\u2019t sacrifice the essence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHow is the VFX process going for you now?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, as I\u2019m working with the VFX people, I\u2019m trying to create a new culture around that \u2014 not a technical culture, but a creative culture. When I\u2019m talking to the effects sequence supervisors and the animators and the lighters, it\u2019s like, \u201cWhat is the most important thing about the shot and why? What is its narrative purpose? What are we saying with this shot? Now, don\u2019t think in shots. Think in flow.\u201d I\u2019m trying to get them to think in flow. Why does this shot exist? I could do anything. I could not have it in the movie. I could have done a completely different shot. Why do you think I did that shot?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat\u2019s the goal for you?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI want them to internalize for themselves that storytelling process. They go way down the rabbit hole, much deeper than me, on the technical side, and are far more capable technically than I am. So I want to give them a little bit of that storytelling magic dust to own for themselves. And it\u2019s working. It started on \u201cThe Way of Water,\u201d and it\u2019s continued a lot more on \u201cFire and Ash.\u201d It\u2019s what I call a first look final. It\u2019s the craziest thing in the world. The creative culture is so strong across all these artists that I can look at a shot for review for the very first time and say \u201cIt\u2019s done.\u201d That is the craziest thing. Anybody that\u2019s worked in VFX is going to be saying \u201cWhaaaat?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, they may be on version 400 but they\u2019ve had enough input previously that they\u2019re now working within a culture that encourages the creativity and the specificity of our \u201cAvatar\u201d world and our characters. So this idea of really encouraging them to think as storytellers is really paying off. And this is why the Gen AI stuff is never going to take the place of that. We need our artists. It\u2019s artists in control of the process, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it\u2019s actually become a kind of crazily joyful finish. You know, it was a fraught production, let\u2019s face it, but it\u2019s been a kind of a joyful finish, because it\u2019s really starting to resonate and fire on all cylinders, and we\u2019re getting a lot of first look finals, which is nuts.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou shot most of the material for \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d and \u201cFire & Ash\u201d from 2017 to 2019, right?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, we started September of 2017. We went for 18 months, but we did both movies, all of it, other than some planned reshoots and some places where I got creative and wrote some new scenes. But the vast majority \u2014\u00a0call it 95% \u2014 was shot in that 18 month window. That was Sigourney playing 15-year-old Kiri across both movies, which actually worked great, because she\u2019s got a story arc across the two movies. There was a kind of a major story arc, where 2 and 3 really tell one big story. And then ultimately, if I get so lucky and I make 4 and 5, 4 and 5 tell one big story. So it kind of stops for a beat after the end of 3. I don\u2019t mean we\u2019ll necessarily stop in production, but the story kind of stops and then it jumps forward in time a little bit.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo how that distance affect your relationship to the material? With the kids especially, they\u2019re much older now than when you were first filming. \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt creates this weird cognitive dissonance, where I\u2019m always shocked by how long it\u2019s been since we actually captured the moment. Because there\u2019s a sense of immediacy. I\u2019m in the story, working on this scene. It feels very immediate. I can remember where everybody was standing. I can remember even secondary characters in the background, which of our troop characters played each one of those secondary characters. It feels like I did it last week. It was five or six years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tFortunately, the cast are just as energetic. I just was doing press with them last week. They\u2019re just as pumped and passionate about their characters and what we\u2019re doing as they ever were, and can\u2019t wait to get on to the next one \u2014 if we should get so lucky as to make some money with these now that are being re-released and being released. So the energy is there, the excitement\u2019s still there, but it\u2019s a weird cognitive dissonance.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSam Worthington in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of 20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

\t\tDoes that dissonance wind up affecting the film?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe good news is I don\u2019t really second guess my creative impulses. Unless, and this happened a little bit on \u201cFire and Ash,\u201d I\u2019m looking at it going, you know, I\u2019m not that much of a genius screenwriter. There\u2019s something a little off here in the storytelling. And so, our Toruk is back [in \u201cFire and Ash\u201d], right? You know, the big bird that Jake rides [in the climax of the first \u201cAvatar\u201d]. I\u2019ve always been waiting for the question, \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t he just go get the big red bird and kill everybody like he used to do?\u201d Because that doesn\u2019t exist in \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI got a big scoop here. It didn\u2019t exist in \u201cFire and Ash.\u201d And I went, \u201cOh, he\u2019s got to go get the bird.\u201d Come on! I was saving it for a later film. I was like, \u201cFuck that! He should get the bird. Get the Toruk.\u201d There\u2019s something in Jake\u2019s destiny that requires it, right? So I just re-wrote it, and we went back and we shot two or three scenes around that concept, and I threw some stuff out and stuck that in. And we\u2019re at three hours, big surprise! But it works beautifully, and the actors were super-excited about that idea. It\u2019s like, oh, okay, that feels right, you know?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it\u2019s not set in stone. It\u2019s a constantly evolving creative process. And that\u2019s what keeps you vigorous and engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tBased on the \u201cFire & Ash\u201d trailers, it\u2019s clear that Spider and Kiri play crucial roles in the third film. Are there any other elements introduces in \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d that audiences should especially pay attention to when re-watching the film?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve got the primary couple, Jake and Neytiri. Obviously at the end of \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d \u2014 three years in, I don\u2019t think we have to worry about spoilers\u00a0\u2014 their eldest son dies. In the typical universe of superheroes and so on, grief is not really dealt with, because it\u2019s an impediment to all the cool stuff you want to see. But I thought, Nah, I want to be very authentic about these people emotionally. I want them to be real. I want that to inform and put pressure on their relationship. Because in the real world, when parents lose a child \u2014 I\u2019m a parent of five. Sam has three. Zoe has three sons. You know, it\u2019s the inconceivable thing for all of us that we all fear. What would that do? In the real world, it tears marriages apart. There\u2019s blame, there\u2019s grief that gets in the way and a lot of marriages don\u2019t survive that. So we got the ultimate love story, kind of Romeo and Juliet, you know, Smith and Pocahontas on another planet. And then it gets challenged. Are they going to survive as a relationship?<\/p>\n

\t\tAnything else?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve got these new characters, Spider, Kiri, Lo\u2019ak, they all come to real fruition in movie 3. But the beautiful thing about this re-release is you get to remind yourself of how important all these relationships are, and then we pay them all off \u2014 sometimes for good, sometimes not so good. But the point is, they\u2019re on a greater arc. Kiri\u2019s arc, very important. Spider\u2019s arc, I think you could tell from the trailer, we\u2019re going places with him. He\u2019s also the glue that glues all the other relationships together. Jake and Quaritch, they\u2019d just be two guys trying to kill each other for six hours of two movies. Sorry, that\u2019s boring. Where it gets nuanced is when they\u2019ve got this kid between them, and they\u2019re the two different father figures, and sometimes they have to work together to keep him alive. It becomes much more nuanced as a result of these younger characters. And by the way, if you\u2019re a kid, you\u2019re going follow them. It\u2019s not a family movie about the parents. It\u2019s a family movie about the kids.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJack Champion in \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of 20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

\t\tFinally, what is the timeline for you to direct \u201cGhosts of Hiroshima\u201d? You\u2019ve said that right now, there\u2019s nothing keeping you from directing the next two \u201cAvatar\u201d movies.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I first of all, \u201cGhosts of Hiroshima\u201d was written by a friend of mine. I gave them permission to announce that I had bought it to turn into a film, but I haven\u2019t written a script yet. So once I get a script I like, then I can answer that question, but that\u2019s not the case right now. Now, I\u2019ve got a couple of other things that haven\u2019t been announced that I also want to do, and it\u2019s a question of \u2014\u00a0that one [\u201cGhosts of Hiroshima\u201d] I will direct. Doesn\u2019t matter when I do it, I\u2019ll direct that one. There are others that I may or may not direct. And the big swing in all of this is, do we make any money with \u201cAvatar 3\u201d? I mean, we\u2019ll make some money. But the question is, what kind of a profit margin, if any, is there, and how much of an inducement is that to continue on in this universe? Or maybe we wait a while until we figure out how to bring costs down. Because production costs have spiraled over the last few years, especially in VFX. Everything\u2019s gone up an enormous amount, and it\u2019s starting to close out the type of films that I like to make.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo there\u2019s an argument for taking a pause and figuring that out. There\u2019s an argument for going out and doing some smaller, more personal film in the meantime, while that gets figured out. There\u2019s an argument, in wild success, for us just launching and just going straight into [\u201cAvatar 4\u201d and \u201cAvatar 5\u201d] and I figure out a production methodology where I have a bit of a hiatus where I can make another film. And there\u2019s another argument that says just go make those two damn movies and figure everything else out when I\u2019m 80.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo where are you in those arguments?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you\u2019re interpreting from that that I\u2019m at a bit of a crossroads here\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s not all mapped out. You know, life isn\u2019t like that. I am at a bit of a crossroads here, and I\u2019m going to have to see what draws me to what as I go forward. The only thing I can tell you right now, I\u2019m not going to stop being a director and a storyteller. That\u2019s the only thing I can confirm at this stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Cameron prefers not to revisit his movies after they\u2019ve opened in theaters. \u201cI usually have a moratorium…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[24315,140403,171,24317,53,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-270436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","9":"tag-avatar-the-way-of-water","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-james-cameron","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115301564308836193","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}