Avatar Director James Cameron Got Angry With A Group Of Film Students - For Good Reason

Talk to anyone who's worked with James Cameron over the years, and they'll tell you the director has finally chilled out considerably of late. Okay, he's still prone to fits of pique (e.g. while shooting "Avatar," he'd nail iPhones to the wall of the soundstage if they went off during a take), but he's no longer the man who once forced Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to shout "We are not animals!" as she stormed off the set of "The Abyss."

This kinder, gentler Cameron has been unusually even-tempered and reflective while doing press for "Avatar: Fire and Ash." Even when he's asked for the umpteenth time about ignorant assertions that the "Avatar" movies are animated works (which, if you've watched the Disney+ documentary "Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Movies," you know is nonsense), he never gets harsher than firing off a terse dismissal.

This doesn't mean you can't annoy the hell out of him. And if you're looking to get his dander up, one tried and true way is to discount the importance of actors in the filmmaking process. A group of New Zealand film students discovered this when Cameron dropped by to judge their short-film pitch session.

In a recent The Hollywood Reporter profile, James Cameron discussed his thoughts on how AI could change the film industry. He's not all the way out on the technology. He believes AI could help visual effects artists to work more efficiently, which would go a long way toward lowering production costs (while not causing anyone to lose their job). Since I do not believe there is anyone in government willing or able to regulate this technology (which is exacerbating an already disastrous climate crisis), I personally think it must be avoided altogether. And I think what Cameron experienced at this New Zealand pitch session further proves my point.

After listening to one student after another talk up their project without mentioning their cast, Cameron took the kids to task. "They were like, 'Jim Cameron's mad at us," said Cameron. "And I was. I'm worried there's going to be a generation that thinks they could make a movie without an actor."

The Screen Actors Guild 2023 strike successfully protected the likenesses of its members. Producers had wanted to be able to scan actors' bodies so that they could be used in subsequent movies sans compensation. This is anathema to Cameron, who prizes the performance-captured contributions of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, and Stephen Lang in the "Avatar" franchise. Those movies don't have a palpable human element without those performances.

AI-enhanced movies may play like slop now, but young filmmakers could easily get acclimated to this artless, counterfeit, surreal aesthetic. It's anti-creativity, and we won't always have a genius like James Cameron to authoritatively call it out, so I'm glad he's doing it now while it might matter.