James Cameron: "I don't have five clones to make movies non-stop like Marvel"

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All filmmakers in some way or are sons of Méliès or of the Lumière brothers.

Or they see in the cinema the most dazzling device to escape from reality or the most useful and precise tool to portray and, if necessary, transform the world.

is one of the first.

And so he makes it known, albeit with reservations, as soon as the subject is brought up.

"In Hollywood there is the idea that they are two exclusive poles, or visual effects are manufactured or stories are told. I don't think that is the case, but of course the cinema was born as a technique to make fantasy fly. The interesting thing about the time we live in It's that everything is possible. Until now there were always limits, there were things that could be done and others that couldn't, and history had to abide by these restrictions. It's not like that anymore,

says the proud and even happy director. He says it in London at the world premiere of what can be considered, without a shadow of a doubt and with no more exaggeration than the fair, the most anticipated film of the century. A total of 13 years have passed between the undisputed success of '

' and its sequel '

which opens on December 16. Finally. We are, of course again, before a film that places us on the other side, without limits.

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Exaggeration?

First the data.

The new production hits theaters with the moral and financial commitment to catch up with its predecessor.

That completed a worldwide collection of almost

got nine Oscar nominations including the one for best picture and encouraged social conversation to limits rarely achieved before (

came to publish that Cameron he had achieved in one go and thanks to all his discoveries: a) change the history of cinema, b) alter the viewer's brain, and c) cure cancer.

It was irony.

Or not so much).

It also achieved what no one else did: position itself as the most viewed in history not once but twice (in 2021, with the rerun, it surpassed '

).

The sequel to him lives all installed in excessive numbers, in a disproportion that devastates everything.

It is estimated that the cost of the new installment is around

But in reality this is only the beginning of the great wave (or tide) that carries so much water.

Three more films will come with a disbursement of around 1,000 million in total.

The third, scheduled for 2024, and the fourth, for 2026, would already be filmed.

Of the fifth and last, it is known that there is a script and that its date, if everything goes according to plan, is 2028. Does anyone give more?

"We know what we're doing.

In any case, it will be the public who decides if what has been planned is the right thing to do", comments the director with the same gesture of looking over a precipice convinced, for whatever reason, that he is flying.

To situate ourselves, the first film told the story of the quadriplegic marine Jake Sully played by

Our hero sneaked into the blue-smurf alien avatar to get around the lush planet of Pandora inhabited by the indigenous Na'vi people.

Problems would soon come because of a humanity, ours, that covets the precious and very scarce resource called unobtanium.

Now 15 years have passed since the great air battle between helicopters and dragons.

We are in the oceans of Pandora, Jake is the father and husband of Princess Neytiri (

) with her four children, including a teenage daughter played, thanks to the magic of visual effects, by

73, and an adopted human son, Spider, played by

, who is now 18 but was 13 when the film began shooting.

The humans return and now they do it for what is not clear, the fact is that they all return, including a very villainous

resurrected in a Na'vi body.

who collaborates with Cameron again after being shipwrecked in '

', plays the warrior queen of another clan where the leading family takes refuge, fleeing from all the evils of all the worlds.

And that's it.

The world of 2009 in which '

' flew has little or nothing to do with that of 2022. And few are as aware of it as Cameron himself.

"The first installment came at the right time. There were other 3D films, but she, as it were, launched the consciousness of three dimensions," he says, taking a second and taking out his calculator: "Then there would be about 6,000 screens worldwide with the right technology. Today there are 120,000 projectors available."

Yes, but then, at the end of the first decade, the conversation about the future of cinema revolved around 3D, and now, let's face it, it seems forgotten.

What's more, what is being talked about is

', of the superhero franchises and, pay attention, of the decline of the rooms in any of the dimensions.

"I think," he replies, "that it's actually a supply problem. There are data that invite optimism.

when it was released. "

normal now in any movie is usually 25%".

What Cameron refers to, and makes it explicit, is that the question is not the system but what is done with it: "The question is not 3D yes or no, but the quality of the 3D you offer."

It is clear.

An image of 'Avatar: The sense of water'.DISNEY

What, in his opinion, leaves no doubt is that despite everything that has happened since the first 'Avatar' (platforms, Marvel and pandemic, basically), the time of '

' has not passed.

"I have always been clear that the experience of cinema in the movie theater was maintained against everything. The only time I began to doubt it was with confinement. I did experience that as the first real existential threat.

I thought that the time had come for small mammals and that I was going to die.

We will now see what happens and who is right.

The public will decide, "he insists, and this time the image that seems most faithful is that of a challenging Cameron while he spins the barrel of his revolver just before placing it on his temple. Another exaggeration, without a doubt.

Be that as it may, there are reasons to be exalted, to doubt and to get excited about doubts.

The experience of the first '

' is still there, but this time, a decade later, multiplied by 100. Or by a thousand.

Cameron achieved in 2009 what no one before.

If the history of representation (whether in painting or in recorded images) could be described as an increasingly precise appropriation of human consciousness (perspective, movement, sound, color...), what was achieved the Canadian went further until he

from its condition of vital possibility: hyperreality beyond reality and, in a hurry, of consciousness itself.

The apocryphal anecdote of the spectators alarmed by the train that passed the screen of the first projection was lived renewed.

That was what it was and what now comes with motion capture in the water is even more so.

We give faith.

he says.

for the first time at the age of 14.

It was a movie and something else. There were special effects, tricks, but it was an experience that felt like something very deeper than a simple show", he says to somehow justify his drift, his work and even himself.

An image of 'Avatar: The sense of water'.DISNEY

And despite everything, what seems to be unanimity is the sad or non-existent trace that so much waste has left in what we generically call popular culture.

Not a memorable phrase, not an unforgettable character (did anyone remember before reading the third paragraph what the protagonist's name was?), not a simple doll to take to the letter of the kings.

' is definitely

not '

'.

Nor, again, Marvel.

"There's an explanation. I don't have five clones of me making movies non-stop like Marvel does.

The truth is, I have other interests too.

I had to choose between exploratory scientific work and continuing with film.

I chose the former ", he justifies himself. Indeed, his is the record for descent to the deepest bottom of the ocean in the Mariana Trench with a submersible Sphere of his invention.

Cameron says that despite the technical advances and visual achievements, the film we are now seeing is also something else.

What's more, it's basically something else.

"A film is entertainment, but if it wants to last over time it must be many more things. My concern for the sustainability of the planet and the degradation of the seas are part of the plot. But it is also a film about the family, its importance basic... I am the father of five children and all my experience is there. I think we

it states.

And he adds: "The Na'vi represent our consciousness regarding nature. They perhaps represent what we were and what we long to return to. Perhaps they represent our childhood and the way in which when we are children we relate to nature, animals , the forest, the sea... No, definitely, I'm not talking about an alien race."

An image from 'Avatar: The Sense of Water'.

On the left the character of Kate Winslet.DISNEY

He solemnly declares all this so that he does not get lost and that we do not get lost.

And he does it just before pondering the weapons.

Yes, again, as is the law in the filmography of the director of '

' or '

', the spectacular action scenes are always synonymous with things that explode.

"I haven't wanted to fetishize guns as I may have done in previous films. What is currently happening with guns in our society turns my stomach. I

and am glad to live in New Zealand which has banned assault rifles," he says.

Cutting.

premieres next week

, a circle will be completed, it is not clear whether virtuous or vicious.

Yes, yes, joyful.

A production that began to be talked about in 1996 will return to the scene. First in the form of a revolutionary rumor ('ex nihilo' cinema where the image is born from the screen itself) and then as simply a miracle.

A language of almost three thousand words was invented, new non-existent plants were imagined, a filming set six times larger than the largest to date was designed... Now, the same thing, but more and under water.

New creatures, more things to see, more of everything.

What was announced as two sequels in 2010, hits theaters in a double pack: there are four (

Cameron said at the time).

And it comes when 30 superhero movies have passed, half a dozen '

' channels, the purchase of Fox (the original producer) by Disney and, as has been said, a pandemic.

'Avatar' returns from the past, like George Méliès himself, announcing the future.

An image from 'Avatar: The Sense of Water'.

The character of Sigourney Weaver.DISNEY

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