October
14
Cameron talks Avatar on CBC
"It's going to be interesting," James Cameron says on CBC's The Hour. The director is talking about "Avatar," a movie that has already eaten up two years of his life, and has one more to go. "We finished with the actors," he says. "We're in CG hell. We're trying to create a world from scratch. It's like trench warfare. We're working with computer-generated characters that are photo-realistic. That's tough. We set the bar high. We're just now getting confidence that it's going to work."
By way of comparison, Cameron's "Terminator 2" had 42 shots with CG characters. Avatar has 1700. This film is both "the hardest" and the "most rewarding," of his films, Cameron says. "Filmmaking is a world of complete madness. You have to have a strong personal ethos in the film business. Being a person of your word is very important."
Cameron knows he's pretty tough to work for. "I'm pretty passionate about what I do and try to inspire other people working with me to give 100%," he says. "Deriding them doesn't work." He says that working on deep-sea docs like Ghosts of the Abyss taught him leadership. When he reverts to his "old behavior pattern," he apologizes now. "I'm a good filmmaker but not a natural leader," he admits. "I've had to learn that as I go along."
Here's the full interview:
[Hat Tip: Moviecitynews.]
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Nice guy,keep making great films Jim,more would be nice.
Posted by: leo | October 15, 2008 at 04:40 AM
Hopefully Avatar will be the starting point of a resurgence in quality blockbuster filmmaking. When Jim Cameron says he is going to blast you through the back wall of the theater, I believe him.
Posted by: Mark | October 15, 2008 at 11:02 AM