James Cameron Received A Two-Word Note From An Executive For His Avatar 4 Script
Going off the glowing critical reactions from its first few screenings of "Avatar: The Way of Water," it's safe to assume that James Cameron has once again done the impossible. For over 13 years, he toiled away in his own little underwater world, while we made jokes about whether the sequels would ever make it to the screen. You would think that the filmmaker behind "Aliens," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," and "Titanic," three of the most revered blockbusters ever made, would have earned the benefit of the doubt.
"Avatar" is not without its flaws, but above all else, it shows a filmmaker transcending the heights of visual storytelling to show us something we've never seen before. The 4K re-release in IMAX a few months back only reignited my faith in Cameron's film, as it really stood out among the mass produced assembly line that make up a large portion of the movies that currently break box office records. The passion on screen is undeniable, and "The Way of Water" looks like an extension of that.
Given that the highly-anticipated sequel takes place 15 years after the events of the first film, there's going to be a lot to catch up on, especially with the addition of so many new characters. We know Cameron already has three more sequels on the way, along with the possibility of a sixth and seventh pair of films, if there's enough "Avatar" fever to go around.
We're still trying to take this one movie at a time, just so we don't get too far ahead of ourselves. However, when it came to presenting the script for the fourth movie to some top executives, Cameron was greeted with just two words that said everything we need to know about the forthcoming sequel for now.
'Holy f**k'
During an interview with Collider, Cameron talked about the evolving process of turning in his scripts for the "Avatar" sequels. Upon sending the treatment for "The Way of Water," he received about 3 pages of studio notes. The third film, which is tentatively entitled "The Seed Bearer," had those annotations whittled down to 1 page. As for the partially filmed fourth entry, which is rumored to be called "The Tulkun Rider," Cameron was gifted with simple vindication:
"When I turned in the script for 4, the studio executive/creative executive over the films wrote me an email that said, 'Holy f**k.' And I said, 'Well, where are the notes?' And she said, 'Those are the notes.' Because it kind of goes nuts in a good way, right?'"
It's definitely a much different tone than when Cameron dealt with executives behind "Avatar," where he was requested to trim the film down to a shorter runtime. "'I think this movie is going to make all the f**king money [...] And when it does, it's going to be too late for you to love the film. The time for you to love the movie is today," said an emboldened Cameron in a recent GQ profile piece.
With the highly-anticipated sequel less than two weeks away, Cameron is shipping us off to Pandora on another adventure, and I can't wait to see the sprawling marvels he has in store, let alone whatever surprises lie in the apparently mind-blowing script for "Avatar 4."
"Avatar: The Way of Water" is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.