James Cameron’s latest release - Avatar: The Way of Water has been doing wonders across the globe and the visual masterpiece is likely to set new records. While fans and critics are praising the film, there are a few factors Cameron had to reconsider before the release. During a recent interview with Esquire Middle East, the famed director revealed that he edited out 10 minutes of Avatar: The Way of Water to avoid glorifying gun violence.
He said, “I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action. I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same things, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”
Interestingly, Cameron also reflected on his previous films - including the Terminator series and True Lies, all of which feature guns - and asserted that he wouldn’t make those movies in the current political climate. The filmmaker confessed that he finds this problematic now.
He said, “I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30+ years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.”
Notably, gun violence is a topic of much discussion in the USA.
Avatar 2 has emerged as a huge box-office success in India and the rest of the world. In India, the film has surpassed the box office collections of domestic releases this year. The film is currently the third-highest grosser in India behind KGF: Chapter 2 and RRR.
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