james cameron got with ‘Avatar’ the highest grossing film of all time, but the development process of it was not without problems. Fox had doubts with several decisions made by the director of ‘True Lies’, but there came a time when the filmmaker said enough and imposed its criteria so as not to have to shorten its duration.
“I drew a line in the sand“
Apparently, Fox considered that ‘Avatar’ had too many flight scenes and they wanted Cameron to shorten that way. As he explains in The New York Times, that led him to remind them of the millionaire benefits he gave the company with ‘Titanic’ and that justified his getting away with it here:
The studio felt that the film should be shorter and that there was too much flight in the ikran, what humans call the banshees. Well, it turns out that’s what the public liked best, based on our exit polls and data collection. And that’s where I drew a line in the sand and said, “You know what? I did ‘Titanic.’ paid, so I can do this.
The huge success of ‘Avatar’ ended up giving him the reason definitively to Cameron, who also highlighted the following in this regard: “And then they thanked me. I feel like my job is to protect your investment, often against your better judgment. But as long as you protect your investment, all is forgiven.“.
I remind you that ‘Avatar’ can be seen again in Spanish cinemas in a limited way starting this next September 30th. A great opportunity to (re) see it and prepare for the imminent release of ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’.