Famous director James Cameron admitted to cutting 10 minutes of footage out of ‘Avatar 2’ because he doesn’t want to fetishize guns.
Cameron was facing backlash for the three-hour run-time of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and was quick to remind fans that it would have been a full ten minutes longer if he hadn’t started chopping out the scenes that glamorized guns and gun violence, according to his recent interview with Variety.
“I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark,” Cameron said. “What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.”
James Cameron cut out 10 min. of gun violence from #Avatar2: “I look back on films I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun…What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.” https://t.co/QyO53fCarW
— Variety (@Variety) December 27, 2022
Cameron spoke of the fine balance he faces between entertaining his audience and being careful not to encourage gun violence through the messaging in his films. “You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it,” Cameron said.
“This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker,” he told Variety. (RELATED: James Cameron Appears To Give Fans The Middle Finger After ‘Avatar’ Screening)
James Cameron Cut 10 Minutes Of Guns From New ‘Avatar’ Flick Over Fears He’d ‘Fetishize’ Firearms https://t.co/d6QdWjyCkW
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) December 27, 2022
Cameron reflected on his past work and admitted that times are changing.
“I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now,” Cameron said.
“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,” he said.
Cameron is taking gun violence seriously in every aspect of his life.
“I’m happy to be living in New Zealand where they just banned all assault rifles two weeks after that horrific mosque shooting a couple of years ago,” Cameron said.