Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Fox, Movies | Tagged: 20th century fox, 20th century studios, avatar, avatar 2, Avatar: The Way Of Water, fox, james cameron

Avatar: James Cameron Says Fox Tried To Cut The Flying Scenes

Avatar: The Way of Water is a certified hit, and whatever you might have to say about the movie, good or bad, both this new and the previous film are beautiful to look at. Director James Cameron put a lot of work into making sure that the world of Pandora was something you felt you could get lost in and that you wanted to explore. It makes sense that when someone like Disney was looking for what kind of rides to make for a land based on these movies, they went with "a scenic boat ride and a scenic flying ride" and then called it a day. This world is a labor of love; everyone involved wants you to spend time in it. During an interview with The Wrap, Cameron explained that Fox actually tried to cut some of the long flying scenes from the film, but he believed they were important because they were helping invite the viewer to "hang out" in this world with him and these characters.

"Let's just be here, right? I mean, that's, I think, what the film is saying. You liking what you see? Let's hang out," Cameron explained. "Let's just hang out, look around, smell the roses. Movies don't do that. … We got into a big conflict with the studio brass at Fox on the first film because they kept saying stuff like, 'Well, you can cut out all that flying stuff; we don't need all that. That doesn't advance the plot.' I'm like, 'You're absolutely correct; it doesn't advance the plot. It's doing something completely else. It's allowing people to enjoy the moment.'"

Cameron said he believes people are distracted by other things and don't take the time to appreciate the world we are existing in during films anymore. He wanted to change this in the original Avatar and its follow-up, Avatar: The Way of Water.

"People forget to put beauty into a film. There's a lot of snark; there's a lot of sarcasm, there's a lot of cutesy jokes in movies. There's a lot of people playing things off as if they're super cool and therefore diluting the sense of stakes, the sense of jeopardy. I go straight at just being earnest. If there's jeopardy, it's real. People could die. And if you like what you see, let's just hang out for a bit. Let's not rush through this because of artificial concepts like 'plot' [laughs]. It sounds dumb, but it works."

For Avatar: The Way of Water, Cameron acknowledges that much like Fox executives thought there were too many flying scenes in the first film, there might be too many swimming scenes for some people in the second. However, he points out that it's impossible to please everyone in an audience.

"It's funny; the scenes they complain about being too long are the same scenes they love. It's just not the same people that are complaining and loving it," he said. "'Too much swimming!' Yeah, OK, for you, but not for all these other folks over here. So ultimately, you have to kind of arbitrate between the conventional ruleset and the experiential ruleset."

We are getting a third Avatar film which is set to be released on December 20, 2024. We don't know much about the movie yet, but what we do know is that Cameron will set aside some time for us to smell the Pandora roses along the way.

Avatar: The Way of Water: Summary, Cast, Release Date

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive,  and the tragedies they endure. The film is directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau; the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Kate Winslet. Avatar: The Way of Water will be released on December 16th.

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