After you do your schoolwork, we’ll discuss.
Before starting to create the narrative for the eagerly awaited sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron made sure the authors had, in essence, earned their Ph.D.s in Pandoran history.
The director claims he spent six months compiling “800 pages of notes” about the setting of Avatar and made everyone in the writing room for the movie read them. They couldn’t even start thinking about the next Avatar film until after that.
In a recent interview, Cameron said, “I strolled in on the first day with the complete writer’s room, and I slapped down 800 pages of notes, single-spaced.” Do your homework first, and then we’ll discuss, I said.
Any potential sequel preparations couldn’t begin to take shape until Cameron was aware that they knew why the 2009 film’s popularity was so great.
“I gave them their first task by saying, “Let’s figure out how the first narrative worked before we talk about other stories.” What did folks focus on and what worked for them?” He spoke. Every proposal we came up with along the way had to pass that test, according to the numerous discussions we had about it.
Naturally, Cameron had a reason for giving everyone so much homework.
He said, “[The story] had to impact the head, the heart, the imagination, and it had to hit something even deeper, which we had a hard time measuring. “Something you might refer to as subconscious or spiritual. Some sort of connection that is difficult to put into words. And I declared, “We’re going to fail if we can’t do that again.””
Whatever magical formula they came up with for the sequel seems to have worked, since it has garnered excellent reviews from critics after its initial viewing. The following two films, scheduled for release in 2024 and 2026, only received “three pages of remarks” from studio officials, according to a recent interview Cameron gave to Collider.
“They gave me a page of notes when I sent them the script for 3, so I was getting better,” he remarked. “The studio executive who oversees the films’ creative direction sent me an email with the subject line “Holy f—-” when I turned in the script for 4. Well, where are the notes, I said. These are the notes, she added. Because, you know, it kind of goes bananas in a good way.”
After adding, “I hope I get to make that film, is what I’m saying,” Cameron continued by hinting that the final movie is one where “you think you know what it’s about, and then, oh no, you don’t.”
The movie Avatar: The Way of Water, starring Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, and Zoe Saldaa, debuts in theatres on December 16.