James Cameron's long-awaited follow-up film to his record breaking smash-hit Avatar might be dropping in a matter of days, but the iconic director isn’t quite finished yet.
While that might seem absolutely bonkers considering the amount of time that has passed, but then again Avatar: The Way of Water is his pièce de résistance.
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The Sydney Morning Herald reports the team has been still adding some final touches even though the film drops in the middle of this month.
Despite having 13 years between the two movies - and no other projects in between - this is Cameron's passion project.
So it's no wonder that he would tinker away until the final moment.
The Avatar films allow him to be his most creative and adventurous, so it is no surprise that the thrill-seeking movie man has seized the chance to use cinema to help him learn, play, and explore the world.
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These days, Cameron spends his days playing with cool technology, coming up with out-of-this-world sci-fi and futuristic themes, and there's a little bit of adventure in the mix as well.
Sounds neat, if you ask us.
It's been well documented he likes to take his actual submarine out for a spin, he's the only person to ever complete a record-breaking 11 kilometres deep dive into the Mariana Trench, and has seen the Titanic wreckage multiple times.
No biggie.
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His taste for adventure is so strong it permeates his films.
In order to get the shots he needed for Avatar:The Way of Water the cast needed to learn how to free-dive.
They shouldn't have been surprised, because for his 1997 film Titanic, Kate Winslet learnt to hold her breath underwater for more than seven minutes.
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These Cameron quirks are what makes his work so great, and what helped inspire his magnum opus.
So, while it might have been a long time between movies, he's coming back in spades.
"Everything I need to say as a filmmaker, I can say within the films that I’ve already got mapped out," Cameron told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I spent about three years on the scripts."
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He then went on to compare his Avatar dreams to J.R.R Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings novels.
It might sound like a bold comparison, but it does make sense Tolkien created whole worlds and so does Cameron.
"Tolkien took what, 12 years to write his trilogy? The first thing I did on day one with the writers was I slapped down 800 pages of notes and said, 'Here’s the world, the culture, the characters, the basic story arc. Now, let’s figure it out'."
Impressive stuff.
What's even more impressive is that he really wasn't kidding about having it all under control.
He says he's already shot Avatar 3, which will come out in 2024, and bits of the fourth film, set for 2026.
Oh, and he already has a script for film number five, which is expected to drop in 2028.
"It’s all written out, stem to stern, four scripts, and fully designed," Cameron revealed.
"We know exactly where we’re going, if we get the opportunity to do it. And that opportunity will simply be market-driven, if people want it, if they like this movie enough."
So yeah, it's been a while. And he's still making changes only days before. But if it was your dream, wouldn't you want it to be perfect, too?
Avatar:The Way of Water swims into cinemas on December 15 and can be seen in 2D and epic 3D.
Topics: James Cameron, Film and TV, Entertainment, News, Celebrity
Rachel Lang