Now that filmmaker James Cameron has finally emerged from his den of technological sorcery to unleash AVATAR upon us, he’s discussing all sorts of things.
First, the matter of a possible AVATAR sequel is addressed in a sit-down with the LA Times Hero Complex. And while a follow-up is obviously contingent on continued and colossal success, there is also story potential on the other celestial bodies in his corner of the universe. “We have some story ideas for how to branch out into the other moons of Polyphemus,” Cameron says, but as he readily admits, “We gotta make some money with this one before we think about the sequel!”
So what else is he thinking about? Maybe a comic book movie? Not likely, as he tells MTV: “I’ve sort of made it pretty clear that Spider-Man was the guy I liked when I was a kid and I wasn’t too interested in the others. I feel there are too many superhero movies right now, I think Hollywood’s in a bit of a rut. They’ve done the good ones and they’re starting to get down to the second and third tier of superheroes — the guys that would not be asked to speak at the annual superhero dinner.”
As you may recall, way back in the 90s Cameron nearly kickstarted a new Hollywood comic-movie obsession himself — he was lined up to make SPIDER-MAN, and wrote a lengthy treatment (which you can find online HERE). Of course, back then there would have been no online message boards for the fanboys to gripe about his plans for organic webshooters… I guess they would’ve had to write actual letters expressing their ire to Starlog or Cinefantastique.
Cameron tends to create his own difficult situations in an effort to advance various aspects of filmmaking, but he’s had other issues going back to ALIENS, including beverage breaks. As detailed in Rebecca Keegan’s book “The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron” (which I hope to find under the tree Christmas morn), the director had a full-blown mutiny on his hands by a British film crew more interested in adhering to regular tea time than bringing the xenomorph menace to life. Slashfilm has a few excerpts, including a gem from when he finally wrapped ALIENS and addressed the crew: “This has been a long and difficult shoot, fraught by many problems,” he said. “But the one thing that kept me going, through it all, was the certain knowledge that one day I would drive out the gate of Pinewood and never come back, and that you sorry bastards would still be here.”
Perhaps best of all is his brilliant response when a bottom feeder paparazzi asks for career advice:
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