James Cameron Explains How His Team Wrote Three Avatar Movies At Once
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- June 2, 2014
By Mark Hodge (doddleNEWS)
Despite being one of the most prolific director in Hollywood, James Cameron has never been one to shirk a challenge.
Indeed the Titanic director’s next project is one of the most ambitious in movie history, filming all three Avatar sequels back-to-back-to-back.
And if you consider that this new trilogy will be totally original, compared to Peter Jackson’s two Tolkien trilogies, which were adapted from classic books, the feat is even more astonishing.
However, despite the commercial success of the first movie -- Avatar (2009) is the highest grossing movie of all time raking in $2.7 billion, with Titanic at number 2 – fan opinion is divided over whether cinema really needs three more Avatar movies.
Although, one of the most intriguing aspects to the sequels, is that all three have been written by different screenwriters, Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds),?Rick Jaffa?and?Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and?Shane Salerno (Armageddon) , with Cameron collaborating on all three projects.
While speaking at LA?Times' Hero Complex Film Festival, Cameron explained the unique process of developing three scripts simultaneously.
He said: “We tried an experiment. We set ourselves a challenge of writing three films at the same time.
"So I knew I was going to have to "parallel process" which meant I would have to work with other writers. And the best experience I had working with other writers was in television when I did Dark Angel. The television room is a highly collaborative, fun experience.
He added: So we put together three teams, one for each script. The teams consist of me and another writer on each one of the three [films].
"But what we did that was unique was we sat in the writing room for five months, eight hours a day, and we worked out every beat of the story across all three films so it all connects as one, sort of, three film saga. And I didn't tell them which one was going to be there's individually to write until the last day. So everyone was equally invested, story wise, in all three films."
Whether you’re a fan of the first instalment or not, what Cameron is saying is pretty exciting. Let’s not forget the filmmaker also helmed two of the best sequels of all time, Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), which were both completely different stylistically from their predecessors. So Cameron knows a thing or two about producing sequels.
Also, the Abyss filmmaker revealed the name of the long gestating Avatar at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom attraction, he said: "It's going to be called, I believe, Pandora: The Land of Avatar."
The first sequel will be released in December 2016. Stay tuned for more Avatar sequel news.
Source: Slash Film
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