The fans and audience had gushing emotions while watching the trailer for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’. Due to this, the trailer surpassed one million views within one hour of its release. The director James Cameron first brought the world of Pandora and the Na’vi Nation in 2009. Now, after thirteen years, he brought another magnum opus spectacle for the audience to witness.
The first part raked around $2.80 billion worldwide. With the high-octane drama and the superior VFX of Weta FX, James is bringing a slew of spectacular actors like Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Vin Diesel, and Kate Winslet. However, the director wanted to cast a famous late actor in the sequels of his 2009 mega-buster film.
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James Cameron Wanted Bill Paxton To Be In ‘Avatar’ Sequels
One of the best Hollywood friendships was that of James Cameron and the ‘Apollo 13’ actor Bill Paxton. The two started their careers together, where they became friends and frequent collaborators. When Cameron made the apocalyptic romance saga ‘Titanic’, he cast Bill as Brock Lovett. He made sure that Bill is also part of his dream project ‘The Terminator’. However, Paxton passed away in 2017 due to surgery complications at the age of 61.
When he left, Cameron wrote a heartfelt tribute to his long-time associate. He recalled the time when they met on the sets of Roger Corman’s film.
James wrote, “What followed was 36 years of making films together, helping develop each others projects, going on scuba diving trips together, watching each others kids growing up, even diving the Titanic wreck together in Russian subs. It was a friendship of laughter, adventure, love of cinema, and mutual respect.”
In December, ten months after Bill’s demise, he gave an interview with EW, where he reminisced about his friend. The interviewer asked him whether he was tempted to cast Bill in Avatar, James said, I don’t remember what happened there. I don’t think there was a part that fit him well. Otherwise, I would have loved to have him involved.”
He continued, “And of course recently, I was staring down the barrel of four more Avatar films and I was thinking of a good place, a good fit for Bill. Then, of course, he died unexpectedly before I made a presentation to him. That denied us the next chance to work together. I would have loved to have continued working with Bill and I’m sure he felt the same way.”
Also Read: “We Will Change Or Die Out”: James Cameron Talks About The Message Of ‘Avatar 2’
‘Avatar: Way Of Water’ Is More Emotional Than The Original Film: Cameron
At Disney’s CinemaCon, the first glimpse of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ was shown and the audience was mesmerized to see the world that Cameron created. In a pre-recorded video, James Cameron talked about the magic of the film. He said, “Avatar 2 is designed for the biggest screen and the most immersive 3D available, set out to test the limits of what Cinema can do.”
During an interview, James weighed on how the second installment will be different from the original film. “I think it’s more emotional than the first film. I think it focuses more on character and relationship dynamics than the first film did, but it delivers on the spectacle.” In the teaser, Zoe Saldana‘s Neytiri says, “I know one thing. Wherever we go, this family is our fortress”. This cemented what the audience could expect from the film.
‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ will be released on December 16th, 2022.
Also Read: Why Did Edward Norton Say No To James Cameron’s ‘Avatar 2’?
