When Avatar was released in 2009, it was considered a benchmark in films that relied heavily on CGI and other special effects to bring all aspects of the world of Pandora to life. Everyone thought James Cameron wouldn’t waste his time making a sequel ASAP, but he quickly disappeared from the map.
But as of today, the highly anticipated sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time is currently awaiting release next month, and it just might be worth the wait. In the meantime, here’s a little snippet from an interview Cameron recently gave in which he reminisces about when he was so paranoid that someone stole his billion dollar idea.
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How James Cameron Made Sure People Didn’t Steal His Avatar Idea
James Cameron is a very special man. It’s common knowledge among members of the film industry that the man is quite a tough shell to crack, considering they all say working with him takes some tough times.
But it’s that dedication and attention to detail that got Cameron this far, earning him a reputation for having that innate ability to make blockbuster movies that can sell in the billions, as we have saw with Avatar and Titanic.
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However, with such prowess, many people will actively seek to steal your ideas without your knowledge. Cameron is not excluded from the dangers of stealing ideas, but the 68-year-old director has a simple and effective opposite.
In a recent interview with GQ, the aliens director described how the concept of Avatar has come to-
“I woke up dreaming about this kind of bioluminescent forest with these trees that look a bit like fiber optic lamps and this river that was glowing with bioluminescent particles and some kind of purple moss on the ground that lit up when you walked on it.”
“And those sort of lizards that didn’t look like much until they took off. And then they turned into these spinning fans, kind of like living Frisbees, and they’re going down and landing on something. It was all in the dream.
What would be a billion dollar idea also needed some sort of protection, especially for people looking to steal the very idea described above. Cameron continues, explaining how important it was for him to draw everything he dreamed up-
“So I actually have a drawing. It saved us a dozen lawsuits. In any blockbuster movie, there’s always a freak with tinfoil under his wig who thinks you’ve put the idea out of his head. And it turned out there were 10 or 11.
It certainly worked. He currently has a net worth exceeding the $500 million mark, so it was worth the time he spent doing his most profitable job.
Also Read: James Cameron Defends Avatar 2’s Obnoxiously Long Runtime: ‘Because There’s More Characters, More Story to Serve’
James Cameron refused to make this major change to Avatar
Studio executives are known to be quite a pain for directors, mostly because they suggest, and sometimes even worse, mandate the director to make major changes to a movie, essentially nullifying their artistic freedom.
Related: Avatar: Waterway Projected Box Office Opening Weekend Fails To Beat Marvel, Falling Short Of 3 MCU 2022 Movies
James Cameron, however, is a pretty resilient man, and he certainly didn’t have the conversation of that Fox executive who suggested he cut the runtime of Avatar in 2009. During the same GQ interview, The Terminator the director has revealed the scathing response he gave to the executive, and honestly, it sounds pretty brutal-
“I said something that I’ve never said to anyone else in the industry – ‘I think this movie is going to make all the money. And when it does, it’ll be too late for you to like the movie. The time for you to love the movie is today. So I’m not asking you to say something you don’t feel, just know that I will always know no matter how rave you are about the movie in the future when it makes all the money .
“And that’s exactly what I said, in all caps, ‘ALL THE MONEY’, not some of the money, all the fucking money. I said, ‘You can’t come back to me and compliment the movie or join in and say, ‘Look what we did together.’ You can’t do that.
“At that point, this particular studio head got pissed off and bugged me. And I told him to get the hell out of my office. And that’s where he was left.
That’s a lot of words to basically tell the executive to leave him and his movie alone. Either way, it’s a testament to James Cameron’s belief in himself and the effort he puts into perfecting his films.
Avatar: The Way of the Water released in theaters on December 16, 2023.
Source: GQ
