'Avatar' Director James Cameron Calls 3-D 'A Whole New Way To Paint, A Whole New Set Of Colors' ב- 12:52

Many labels have been applied to James Cameron's 2009 smash "Avatar" since even before it hit theaters, but few have been more ubiquitous than "game-changer." The sci-fi epic is notable for being conceived and written from the ground up to play as a 3-D release. Many in the industry believed that the release of "Avatar" would herald a newfound focus on the tech, something that had already been picking up steam in the months leading to the December 18 release.

When Cameron stopped by earlier this week to chat with MTV's Josh Horowitz on a variety of topics, it was inevitable that 3-D would come up, and it's perceived game-changing influence on the business of Hollywood.

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"Yeah... yeah, blame me for that," he said with a grin. Josh went on to list a number of examples, including the coming "Clash of the Titans" conversion, the Grammys-- and Cameron stopped him there.

"The Grammys did it wrong," he said, "with the [need for] red and blue [glasses]. Everybody took the glasses off and said 'This isn't like the Avatar 3-D!'" To him, it's a sign that moviegoers in general are developing a more refined palate for tech advancements such as this.

"There is an evolution, people are now starting to not accept inferior forms, which is good. But it's typical of Hollywood getting it wrong," Cameron explained. "It's like, we do a film that's natively authored in 3-D, shot in 3-D. So they assume from the success of that that they can just turn movies into 3-D in eight weeks, and... that's going to work somehow."

There's an unspoken reference in that statement to "Clash," which was only recently confirmed for a 3-D conversion, even after director Louis Leterrier told us the opposite was true, that there wasn't enough time for such a conversion. Cameron's not about to badmouth his pals, however.

"Look, it's ['Avatar' star] Sam [Worthington] starring in the film, so I wish them all the success in the world, but [conversion is] just not the way to do it." A diplomatic response if ever there was one. "If you want to make a movie in 3-D, make the movie in 3-D. It should be a filmmaker-driven process, not a studio-driven process. I've been telling filmmakers for the last five years, there's this a whole new way to paint, a whole new set of colors, and they've all kind of hung back. Now it's getting crammed down from above and people are getting told to make movies in 3-D, and it should've been the other way around. They should've been banging on the doors of the studios saying 'I want to make a movie in 3-D! Let me do it!' And it didn't happen."

What's your stance on 3-D? Is it best used as a flourish, an added bonus to enhance your enjoyment of a movie? Or is it more valuable as an author's tool, as yet another agent for telling stories in an interesting way?

See full article at MTV Movies Blog »

'Avatar' Sequel Stumbling Block? Director James Cameron Reveals Negotiation 'Hurdles' ב- 12:50

MTV's Josh Horowitz got a treat yesterday. "Avatar" director James Cameron stopped into the MTV Newsroom for a chat. And, as Josh expected, he was all set to run through exactly what his plans are for the "Avatar" sequel.

"Dream on. And then you woke up," Cameron said, laughing.

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Okay, so maybe he's not ready to reveal what's happening with the future of "Avatar." But he did speak generally to where his head is right now, and what steps must unfold before a return trip to Pandora can be booked.

"It's a bit of a maelstrom," he said of the current state of things. "I'm sort of reacquainting with a number of other projects that are non-theatrical film projects, like space stuff and ocean stuff." Cameron of course has done undersea documentary work, his "Titanic" follow-ups "Ghosts of the Abyss" and "Aliens of the Deep." He also spoke to MTV pretty extensively about his past and future plans to shoot something in outer space.

"Avatar" though? Yeah, that's on the agenda as well. "I'm thinking about what the next feature will be. Another 'Avatar' film is a strong possibility. I've got some deal hurdles I've got to get over with the studio before I want to emotionally embrace that."

Cameron wouldn't explain exactly what part of the process is being held up as far as his agreements with Fox goes, but speaking generally he said "It's never really been properly worked out."

"Everyone is highly motivated," he continued, "because Rupert Murdoch told us we were doing it, so now they have to make a deal." The only thing he'll say for sure is what he's previously said, that we'll be off on another adventure with the same, familiar characters. "It would be a continuation of their story," he said, adding after a brief pause, "and I expect those nasty humans didn't go away forever."

Do I even need to ask if you want more "Avatar"? Should Cameron direct again, or should he hand it off to someone else?

See full article at MTV Movies Blog »

'Avatar' DVD Could Feature An Extended Cut Of The Movie, Plus '15 Minutes Or So' Of Unfinished Scenes ב- 12:47

There's no way around it. "Avatar" is going to get multiple home video releases. It's just a fact. Big movies typically get a barebones release followed by a special edition and sometimes even another special edition, especially if there's a director's cut or some holiday to peg it to. "Avatar" adds a new wrinkle thanks to the 3-D angle and the still-new 3-D home display technologies. So get used to the idea now: if you're an "Avatar" junkie, you're going to be buying it more than once and probably more than twice.

We've already heard from News Corp. top dog Rupert Murdoch that an "Avatar" DVD -- barebones, of course -- will hopefully arrive in stores before June 30, with a special edition and/or 3-D release to follow sometime after that. When MTV's Josh Horowitz spoke with director James Cameron yesterday, the first question he had was "When?"

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"It exists! It's coming!" he said of the for-home 3-D technology, explaining that we'll start to see them as soon as next month, with more coming before the end of 2010. "By third and fourth quarter of this year, you can get a 3-D set if you want to."

Cameron then went on to talk specific release plans. "We're going to put 'Avatar' out probably in November on 3-D -- barebones, just the movie -- and then we'll follow up with some kind of special edition 3-D [release] later down the line."

While he did not specify exactly what qualifies as "barebones," he did admit that there's a ton of bonus material. Josh has even seen some of it, "Way more than you ever wanted to see, I'm sure," Cameron said with a smile. More than behind-the-scenes footage too; there's material that just never made it into the movie, some of it abandoned so early in the process that it was never completed. Don't expect to see any of that material integrated into a director's cut... but expect to see it somehow.

"The unfinished scenes look like a cheesy video game," Cameron explained. "There are the performances; you can really see what the scene would have been, but it doesn't have that magical realism of the finished film. So to put those scenes in without finishing them... will be for fans. For real fans who want to know more about the characters and so on."

What does that mean for an extended edition sort of release? "It's not going to be a casual viewing experience of a longer film," Cameron said. "We can probably put in maybe another five or six minutes that was finished, final finished. And we can put in 15 minutes or so of those other scenes that were never finished, that were taken out relatively early in the life cycle of the cut. So we'll look at programmable branching technology to see what experiences we can give people on the DVD."

How many "Avatar" home video releases do you think we'll see when all is said and done?

See full article at MTV Movies Blog »

Thank-You Cam Be Damned: 'Avatar' Producer Plans to Top His Infamous Oscar Speech ב- 12:45

As you may have heard, Oscar is planning a new technique this year to streamline the annual awards show: stars are encouraged to give the TV cameras their excitement and “You like me! You really like me!” A-list material, but are supposed to save their name-dropping thank-you’s for a behind-the-scenes webcam. Well, one of this year’s sure-to-be-big-winners is “Avatar,” and when producer Jon Landau stopped by our studio recently, he couldn’t help but get a laugh out of the fact that he was one of those bad apples who had created the need for a “thank-you cam.” (Editor's note: It should be mentioned that our Landau interview came before the change in procedure was announced.)

America, meet the man responsible for this year’s lack of thank-you’s.

“I got criticized for my thing, I guess I thanked like 53 people in my thank-you speech,” said Landau, who speed-read a huge list of names after winning best picture for “Titanic” -– and whose likelihood of speaking again on behalf of “Avatar” may have single-handedly driven the “thank you cam” pre-emptive strike. “All the people in the press criticized me.”

At the time, Landau’s lengthy speech was considered such a disaster that the Oscars even used it as a teaching tool. “The Academy said to me, ‘Jon, we do a luncheon the following year and we want to use your Academy speech [as a ‘What Not to Do’ clip],” he recalled. “We’ll cover up your face so people won’t know it’s you’, but of course they’d know it was me!”

“[The Academy said] we’ll say this is a good speech [and show someone], and then we’ll go this was a fair speech [and show someone], and then we’ll say: this is what not to do [and show you],” he revealed. “They said ‘Would you mind doing that?’”

Meanwhile, Landau’s director and friend -- James Cameron -- was busy declaring himself “The King of the World” and giving the Academy exactly the kind of soundbite that could be used for decades to come. Although some people did view it as a wee bit cocky.

“He quoted his movie,” Landau was quick to point out. “Let’s just make that clear….”

With “Avatar” leading the pack this year in nominations, the odds seem pretty good that we’ll once again hear from Cameron and Landau. So, what are their plans?

“I don’t think Jim looks back on [his Oscar speech as a bad thing]; he looks back on that and meant to say ‘I’m feeling the way Jack Dawson felt, that moment on the bow of the ship,’” Landau explained, fighting off any notion that Cameron’s declaration was arrogant. “I think that if Jim found some moment to say what Jake Sully feels or Neytiri feels, then he might do that.”

And what about Landau? With a film as technologically advanced as “Avatar,” one would think that he could read names from now until the sequel is in theaters. So does he have any plans to save all those thank you’s for a backstage webcam?

“[I told the Academy in ‘98], honestly I don’t mind them doing that at all,” he said of his inclusion as the Oscar’s “Don’t Do This” video. There was one condition though: “As long as you tell people that if I am ever lucky enough to be up there again, I’m going to do the exact same thing.”

“We have a lot more than 53 people that contributed to ‘Avatar,’ I’ll tell you that,” Landau said, flashing a mischievous grin. “We’ll see what happens.”

What do you think? Should Landau save his thank-you’s for the backstage camera? Or should he whip out his note-card again on Oscar night and let ‘er rip?

See full article at MTV Movies Blog »