A band of humans are pitted in a battle against a distant planet’s indigenous population.
Hmmm……..what?
Yes, he’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccck.
Avatar is James Cameron’s newest master creation. He had intended to start production of the movie after Titanic in 1999, but to make it with the technology he planned would have cost somewhere in the range of $500 million dollars, and even with Titanic’s financial and critical success no studio would have supported that. Ten years later and he has the techonology to finally make the film he’s visualized for years. To describe part of what it’s like to shoot this 3D Cameron stated:
“We’ve eliminated the animation from animation.”
“The way we developed the performance capture workflow on ‘Avatar’ is we have our virtual camera, which allows me to, in real time, hold a camera — it’s really a monitor — in my hands and point it at the actors and see them as their CG characters,” Cameron said… “It’s this amazing ability to quickly conjure scenes and images and great fantasyscapes that is very visual…When you are doing performance capture, creatively it’s very daunting. It’s very hard to imagine what it will look like. But if you can see it, if you can have a virtual image of what is it going to be like, then you are there.”
Avatar also features stars such as Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation), Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, and Michelle Rodriguez. Apparently Cameron had considered Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) for the role Col. Quadritch, but seeing as Sigourney Weaver had already been cast he wasn’t willing to risk the idea of another Aliens film. Weaver has said her character is inspired by James Cameron:
“I teased him because to me I’m playing Jim Cameron in the movie as this kind of brilliant, approach-driven, idealistic perfectionist. But that same somebody has a great heart underneath. So I have to say I was always kind of channeling him.”
Directors like Steven Spielburg, Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, and Steven Soderburgh have visited the set and Jackson has let them experience the crazy technology he’s using to shoot the film. Nothing but utter shock, amazement, and words of praise have escaped from these movie giants in reflection to the ground Cameron is making once again in the film industry. Soderburgh said:
“Yeah, I went to the set… I can tell you that sh*t was mindblowing. The sh*t I saw was crazy. Like, craaaazy. I think it’s gonna be gigantic. It’s gonna be another one of those benchmarks. There’s gonna be Before that movie and After.”
The scheduled release date is December 18, 2009, but could possibly change. This is film that may be the first in generations to have a profound enough effect on cinema to change the way movies are made. My personal hero James Cameron, and favorite actress Sigourney Weaver is enough motivation for me to get behind this one, the rest is just details.
For your enjoyment, some of the concept art floating across the internet:
One of those flicks that I hope the hype isn’t bigger than the movie. I’m looking forward to this one as it should, at the very least, be a very different type of film than we’re used to seeing.
That is what everyone keeps saying. Even if you don’t like it, it’s still going to be amazing. I can get enthused by that. Besides look at James Cameron’s track record. It’s essentially flawless.
About time he came up for air. I’m trying to stay grounded in reality – but to hear some of the buzz on the web you’d think this was going to cure world hunger.
I’d love for something like that to happen, but remember, at least 50% of Star Wars’s ( 1977 ) ability to shock and awe people was partially it’s SUPRISE factor. Almost no one had an idea of what to expect.
Hopefully the expectations being placed onto this don’t hurt it’s impact when it finally arrives.
MRL
I think it’s fair to say this movie may not be the “best” movie ever created as it’s been built up, but I do think what’s being built up about the technology involved and it’s visual effects and representation is fair. Especially when you have the most creative and respected minds in film today being wowed.
I think this is going to blow us away.