Back in 1998, he crowned himself “king of the world” when he received the Oscar for best director for his work on Titanic, an expression that surprised everyone, even though he actually repeated a phrase that Leonardo DiCaprio said in that film. And in 2009 he returned to occupy that same place of prominence when he revolutionized the cinema with Avatar, the film that broke audience records with an imaginary world created with the technique of motion capture (motion capture). Since February 2010, James Cameron has been working incessantly on the creation of sequels to that phenomenon, the first of which, Avatar 2: The Sense of Water, arrives on Spanish screens this Friday, although he has already filmed scenes of Avatar 3 (to be released on December 20, 2024), Avatar 4 (December 18, 2026) and Avatar 5 (December 22, 2028), to prevent the actors from aging. In a good example of how the world has changed, the presentation of the film was through a global press conference organized by Disney and witnessed by hundreds of media from five continents. These were Cameron's words.
At what point did you know that the world of Avatar was going to return?
It's funny, from a certain point of view it could be obvious: if the movie made that much money, it had to be a sequel, right? However, Steven Spielberg never made a sequel to E.T., the highest-grossing film of its time. It is not something so simple, to begin with one has to ask himself if he really wants to shoot the same target again. And, besides, you have to be at least at the level of the first film. We've been able to bring back a wonderful cast like this, we even found a way to bring back Sigourney Weaver, since her character died in the first movie. We have formed a family that includes the technical team, because in the scenes in which a hundred people are seen, they are actually the same ten actors that we were relocating and then digitally joining them. It was a small group, we all love each other very much and enjoyed the process. Luckily we were able to add Kate Winslet, and that was a great incentive for me, to go back to that, to repeat it all over again. I have planned a total of five movies, and I'm still shooting them.
It is interesting how he is inspired and revisits the first film to continue the story...
It's important that a second part honor what the audience enjoyed the first time around. But, on the other hand, you have to do different things, that shake you up, and propose things that are not expected. There are many surprises in this film, which we have not included in the trailers or in the television commercials. That is why there is no other alternative than to live the experience. But, in addition, it is much deeper, in terms of the soul and emotions. I think, in the first movie, the stories were much simpler and so were the characters. Also, I was inspired by the fact that both Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington, the leads, have children in real life, because I also have five, and we wanted to explore family dynamics and the responsibilities that come with parenthood.
Like the first film, this second part includes quite a few strong female characters. Does Avatar join the female empowerment movement?
It was very easy to do with Zoe Saldaña's character, Neytiri, because she was already so strong in the first film. In this case, she, also, she is a mother, and her priorities change, she leaves behind her pride, the fact of being the daughter of the boss and the princess of the clan. And what then is her new social position? We see her in a totally different situation, where she has to be submissive towards Ronal (Kate Winslet) and the Metkayinas, even if she isn't able to keep it up for long, sparking sparks between them, the two strong women in the history.
What was it like working with Sigourney Weaver again?
My pleasure, it was an important decision, we had to figure out how to bring her back. Even though Dr. Grace has passed away, we make her daughter, Kiri, alive... and Jake and Neytiri adopt her. Grace had a very motherly connection to Jake, because she guided him and protected him, and so he's going to raise this girl as if she were his own. There's something about her that's a bit strange, unknown, enigmatic, Sigourney knew how to walk a fine line of adolescent strangeness. Later, Kiri discovers all the power of her inside of her, although she is not a warrior, she does not react in the same way as Neytiri, she is not really a leader, until we see how she exhibits all the power of her . I felt that through her I had an opportunity to speak to adolescent girls in a way that can work for them. I have daughters and I have seen them go through these things, because of the confusion and the need to discover who they are, because of the need to be very attentive to whoever listens to you... They were things that I investigated for Titanic and that I later lived as a father for years after.
¿Y Ronald?
Kate Winslet's character is a woman who is ready for combat, even though she is 6 months pregnant. She never doubts it. If her children are in danger, she doesn't wait, she gets moving. It's an instant thing: she goes and takes the gun from her. Her husband, her character played by Cliff Curtis, tries to restrain him by placing his hands gently on her belly, suggesting that it's not a good idea. And yet...
The first Avatar was revolutionary. What is he most proud of in this second part?
What made me most proud was the first screening of the finished film for the actors, Sam, Zoe, Stephen and Sigourney, to see and see the way they reacted. The camaraderie that developed between them at the end of the process was great. The most important thing in movies is the close-ups, not the worlds we create, no matter how spectacular they are. Who we connect with is the characters. I saw it unfinished six months ago, with the special effects in progress, in two dimensions. And I saw it again a week ago, already finished, I try to let a long time pass between each projection. I work every day on the small details for 10 or 11 hours, but sitting down to see it complete is something else. And what struck me were the performances of the actors. Theirs goes beyond the whole show, the design and the creatures. But I am also very proud of all the people who worked on the image, more than a thousand people who preserved everything in such an eloquent and subtle way. There were scenes without dialogue, where everything went through close-ups, which make us feel that they are speaking, but with their eyes.
