Entertainment

James Cameron Says He Cut ‘Gunplay Action’ From ‘Avatar 2’ Because He Didn’t Want To ‘Fetishize’ Guns

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Leena Nasir Entertainment Reporter
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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.”

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)

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.