Exclusive: James Cameron talks Avatar

11 facts about the most important film of the decade

Feb 3rd 2009

Ask us to name the film we’re most excited about in 2009 and we’d have to say Avatar – despite the brilliant MASSIVE robots in the Transformers 2 trailer.

After all, it’s not every year that we get to experience a total cinematic revolution.

We weren’t around for the dawn of the talkies in 1927. We didn’t witness the first three-strip Technicolor feature in 1935, and totalfilm.com was a gleam in the internet’s eye in 1998 when The Last Broadcast ushered in digital cinema.

But we are going to be there when James Cameron finally brings his immersive 3D epic to your local Odeon, changing the way we watch films forever.

To celebrate, we’ve gathered together everything we know about Avatar – including exclusive new quotes from James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh, and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Avatar will be the most important film of the decade - possibly century. So here’s what we know about it...



1. Cameron’s been working on it for quite a while.

Cameron first wrote the treatment for his groundbreaking 3-D sci-fi actioner Avatar in 1995. He started by working with Microsoft, researching the way people see.

He teamed with WETA to develop new motion-capture techniques and photorealistic CG.

He made seven deep-ocean expeditions in five years (along with two 3-D Imax docs) to develop a new 3-D camera technology.

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Comments

    • sleepwalker

      Feb 3rd 2009, 13:01

      feel sorry for those kids who ran with scissors and lost an eye. It sounds like this 3d experience is going to be outstanding.

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    • goldfarb

      Feb 11th 2009, 17:54

      I'm looking forward to Avatar as much as the next person...however, it might be prudent to avoid statements like the following: a total cinematic revolution changing the way we watch films forever Avatar will be the most important film of the decade - possibly century ...the fact that neither you nor anyone else has seen any footage and/or is able to comment on it objectively makes these statements ridiculous hyperbole "He teamed with WETA to develop new motion-capture techniques and photorealistic CG" a gross exaggeration...that ignores the past 15 years of VFX work that has led to the work being done all over the world right now. "the VPS system tracks every CG cloud and blade of CG grass in the film" this is factually incorrect. Katzenberg's statements MUST be taken with the understanding that he has a vested interest in attracting people into the theater...the future of 3D cinema will be very different than what he, or Cameron for that matter, claim. ...

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    • Yonatan

      Apr 30th 2009, 9:03

      "Jeffrey Katzenberg predicts that one day soon, no one will film in 2-D." Yeah, right. There will always be making movies like Frost/Nixon, Doubt, Milk, etc. Drama movies, about characters and emoitions with real recognizable actors. They aren't better movies, and Avatar might be great, but there will always be room for both kind of movies. image is actually the equivalent of listening to vinyl,” said Katzenberg

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