Director James Cameron
Director Jon Favreau (moderator)Event photos by Shane Karns
On October 21, DGA members gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles Theater for a special advanced screening of the two-part documentary about the making of the Avatar sequels, followed by a virtual Q&A with Director James Cameron.
Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films provided a fascinating glimpse into the making of Cameron's Oscar®-winning box office phenomenon Avatar: The Way of Water and a first look at his upcoming feature, Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Documentarian Thomas C. Grane and his team traveled from Manhattan Beach, San Pedro, Shasta Lake, and the Channel Islands, CA to the Bahamas, Hawaii and New Zealand to follow the cast and directorial team as they worked to hone and perfect the techniques of underwater performance capture technology and learned to free dive in a massive, state-of-the-art 680,000-gallon water tank. The film features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, concept art and interviews with cast and filmmakers including: James Cameron, Producer Jon Landau, 1st AD Maria Battle-Campbell, 2nd Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator Garrett Warren, Actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver, and more.
Following an introduction by Special Projects Committee Co-Chair Rachel Raimist, via remote video feed from Wellington, New Zealand, Cameron engaged in a video Q&A about the films moderated by Director Jon Favreau.
During the conversation, Cameron spoke about how performance capture technology has strengthened his dedication to his craft and allowed him to focus on being the best Director he can be for his actors.
“People basically think of me as a very tactical filmmaker and I am. I love that stuff, but I'm also a writer and I create these characters and there's nothing that gives me greater joy in the craft than working with the actors to bring characters to life,” said Cameron. “So, what I found with performance capture —which was a bit unexpected to me going in — was that it completely uncouples performance in my work as an actor’s Director from my work as a technical Director. It’s counterintuitive because you think of it as a technical process, but really it becomes very much of an actor's process. If you think about it, how much of your time on the set is setting up dolly tracks, setting up a crane, orchestrating the background extras, talking to the DP about lens choice and lighting, maybe waiting for a sun angle? All of those things go out of my mind when I'm working with the cast in a performance capture environment. I'm just there for them. They get 100% of me, which I think they appreciate because I'm coming at it from having sort of created these characters on the page. I hand it to them. It's their baton to run with at that point.”
Regarding how he encourages his cast to give authentic performances in a volume environment, Cameron shared that he made some creative adjustments for the sequels. “We learned from the first film. We went in with certain things we did instinctively. Like we took the actors to a rainforest in Kauai, camped out for a few days and learned a lot of indigenous cooking tricks, bow handling and hunting and tracking and things like that for sense memory. So, we bring it back into the sterile volume and people feel confident that they're behaving properly. I think the confidence of an actor in the moment comes from the preparation.”
Video from this event coming soon to the gallery below.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
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About the Committee
Special Projects is the educational and cultural arm of the Directors Guild of America, providing its members opportunities for creative exchange to advance their craft and celebrate the achievements of directors and their teams. The Committee is co-chaired by Directors Michael Goi and Rachel Raimist.
