The Reason James Cameron Cut 10 Violent Minutes from ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’
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After almost three and a half hours of Avatar: The Way of Water, did you sit up, belly full of a liter-sized Diet Coke and think to yourself, Hmmmm, that really could have been longer? If you did, technically, you were right. Although 2009's Avatar eventually released in DVD with a special extended director's cut—with loads of deleted scenes and bonus footage—we may never get to to experience that with The Way of Water.
According to Avatar producer Jon Landau in a recent interview, there isn't enough material left from The Way of Water for a director's cut. But according to a recent revelation from James Cameron, he did cut ten minutes from the final runtime of the long-awaited sequel. If you're wondering if that was crucial footage explaining who Kiri's father is, or where the next attack on Pandora will be, you don't need to worry anymore.
While speaking with Esquire Middle East, Cameron revealed that he contemplated the role of violence in his work as an action director. “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-plus years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach,” said Cameron.
Apparently the director's reflection on his filmography made a major impact on his filmmaking decisions in The Way of Water. Cameron ended up leaving depictions of gun violence from the film on the cutting room floor. Apparently, living in New Zealand—where Avatar: The Way of Water was filmed— influenced Cameron's perspective on guns as well, because all assault rifles are banned in the country. “I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action," Cameron added. "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 thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”
Hopefully in the next Avatar installment, instead of blazing guns, we'll see even more creative weapons and coordinated attacks between the Na'vi and alien wildlife. We'll happily take a giant space whale over bullets.
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