“I am always on pins and needles before a film opens. It is less about the reviews for me than whether people show up or not,” James Cameron told me when I interviewed him about the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Surprising? I thought so, coming from a man whose films have grossed more $8 billion and hold three of the four spots in the top-grossing films of all time with Avatar at No. 1, Avatar: The Way of Water third and Titanic fourth, after being No. 1 for a generation. So wondering if people are going to show up is indeed a bit surprising, but until he sees how the new film plays out over the holidays and into the new year is something he demands before committing to doing a fourth in the series — even if the stories and scripts are completed for the initially planned five-part franchise.
Well, the film opened Friday and earned $89 million over the weekend and has about $347 million worldwide. Not bad, but Cameron knows the cost of these films is enormous, and he is cautious about giving the next one a green light even though they have shot some footage with the kids from Fire and Ash but only because as he says the next film will take a big leap in time. He looks at these most recent two Avatars (shot simultaneously) as kind of his Dune 1 and 2. The next two — “should we get to make them” he says — would be another completely different set of two films.
Cameron joins me for this week’s episode of my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about a wide variety of things, beginning with Titanic, which with is tied for most Oscar nominations ever (14) and most Oscar wins with 11. He says his inspiration was David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago, a love story set against a big canvas. He talks about the strategy of releasing it at Christmas 1997, where it could play into the new year. Boy did it ever, landing an unheard-of 16 weeks at No. 1 and a near-$2 billion gross.
About not knowing whether there will be more Avatars, he says: “I always say ‘if,’ but will it be profitable enough, and only we will know that.” We talk about the origin of the idea for Avatar, which initially came about with him as CEO of the new company Digital Domain with the idea to push to the ultimate limit the art of CGI. So he wrote it but tells me that, in 1995, “it was so ultimate that nobody knew how to do it!” It took another 14 years or so, but they did it.
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We also talk about the process of working with the actors in the films, how that is the most important and most misunderstood aspect. He thinks performance capture is second only to actual theater acting as the purist form of the actor’s craft, and he explains why. We also talk about why the urgent message of Avatar: Fire and Ash is remarkably important, more now that ever considering the state of America and the world, ironically saying it is incredible that Avatar can get you rooting against your own species.
We also talk upcoming projects including one close to his heart and another warning for the world, with Ghosts of Hiroshima following the paths of two young men who not only survived one nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima near the end of WWII but then another when they returned home to Nagasaki. He believes the story that cries out for empathy and connection has parallels to Avatar in some ways and tells me when he plans to make this film, claiming the challenge for him is he still doesn’t know quite how to do it.
I also get news on his long-gestating desire to reboot the 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage. He will produce it and says he is working with a director on a new script and thinks it could move forward in a big way this coming year.
To watch our conversation and to go “behind the lens” with James Cameron, just click on the link above.
Join me every Monday this Oscar season for a new edition of Behind the Lens, and every Wednesday for a new episode of The Actor’s Side.
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