We all know why James Cameron waited so long after Titanic to move forward with the part CG, part live-action epic Avatar, but we are still somewhat short on the plot.
Cameron's Avatar for Summer 2009
Avatar takes place in the future and pits a band of humans in a battle against a distant planet's indigenous population.
So we are told. Fortunately, James Cameron divulges on Avatar's plot a bit more during a recent discussion with EW.
James Cameron is finally following up that movie about the boat accident. His new project, Avatar, is an epic, 3-D sci-fi film about an ex-Marine on an inhospitable planet where humans can only survive by projecting their consciousness into genetically engineered bodies (a.k.a. ''avatars''). The people of earth want to exploit the planet's natural resources, of course, causing the inhabitants to revolt and a war to break out. The rub for the protagonist, named Jake (played by newcomer Sam Worthington), is that he's fallen in love with a native (Zoe Saldana), forcing him to choose a side in the battle. Fox has gone out on a limb, granting Cameron a whopping $195 million to tell the tale — but hey, what's a couple hundred mil for a guy who racked up 11 Oscars with his last full-length feature?
What was the tipping point in terms of realizing that this movie was technically possible?
Looking at what Peter Jackson was able to do with Gollum, and then King Kong. And Davy Jones [from Pirates of the Caribbean] — all these examples of compelling photo-realistic, fully CG characters, in a photo-realistic world. I don't think many people are aware that a lot of the jungle scenes in King Kong were actually CG. They did a lot with miniatures, but toward the end they were doing a lot of the jungles in CG.
Cameron goes on to discuss the 3-D technology and the deciding factors that helped him decide on Avatar rather than Battle Angel.
Check out the full report on Cameron's Avatar over at EW.
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