As another day passes, legendary director James Cameron has found a way to make headlines again regarding his billion-dollar franchise Avatar.
The commotion occurred when the 68-year-old opened up about why he feels that the Avatar franchise is entirely “actor-driven” despite the help from visual effects used for both films.
In the Avatar movies, respectively released in 2009 and 2022, viewers followed the adventures of Jake Sully, a former Marine-turned-Avatar, and a Na’vi woman named Ney’tiri as they live in Pandora. While shooting the film, news outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter, stated that the director used a “stereo camera head rig” by Weta Fx to make the actors’ visual expressions come to life.
In an interview with the publication, Cameron disclosed that the franchise is “actor-driven” because, as a filmmaker, he has to pay attention to every motion and gesture the individual makes in a scene. He said,
“It’s 100 percent actor-driven. Sometimes our biggest challenge can be in a simple two-character dialogue scene. You have to have every nuance of what the actor does. As a director and working with the actors, it’s a very pure art form. It’s like a stage rehearsal.”
Since the theatrical release of the Avatar franchise’s second installment Avatar: The Way of Water, last December, the sci-fi has generated over $2.2 billion at the box office worldwide. Although it didn’t surpass the first film’s record of over $2.9 billion, it did, however, as previously reported on We Got This Covered, become the “third highest-grossing movie in cinema history,” dethroning Cameron’s other project, Titanic from that spot.
In addition to the box office revenue, Avatar: The Way of Water — which stars Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, etc. — has received a fair review. Good — but not great — due to the bland storyline, despite the film’s breathtaking visuals.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.
