James Cameron slams the Oscars for snubbing sci-fi…
James Cameron is looking out the Academy Awards.
“I don’t think about the Academy Awards that much,” the filmmaker, 71, told The Globe and Mail on Friday. “Intentionally, I don’t think about that at this point. I don’t try to make a movie to appeal to their sensibility… they don’t tend to honor films like ‘Avatar’ or films that are science fiction.”
2009’s “Avatar” was nominated for 9 Oscars and took home three, while 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” garnered 4 noms and received one trophy for visible results.
James Cameron, Oona Chaplin on set of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” ©twentieth Century Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection
The third installment, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” was launched on Friday.
Meanwhile, fellow sci-fi flick, “Dune: Part One” hit theaters in 2021 while “Dune: Part Two” was launched in 2024.
Cameron identified that, in his eyes, the journey movies’ director wasn’t acknowledged for his work.
“Denis Villeneuve, another Canadian filmmaker, made these two magnificent ‘Dune’ films,” Cameron acknowledged. “And apparently these films make themselves because he wasn’t considered as a director, not even by the Director’s Guild.”
“Dune” obtained 10 Oscar nods but Villeneuve, 58, wasn’t nominated for Best Director.
The sequel earned 5 nominations, profitable for visible results and sound.
James Cameron directing “Avatar.” ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
James Cameron holds his Oscar Awards backstage at Academy Awards Show, March 23, 1998. Getty Images
Despite “Avatar” and “Dune” not securing a Best Picture win, both movies had been large hits at the box workplace.
“Like OK, you can play the awards game or you can play the game I like to play and that’s to make movies people actually go to. Sorry!”
Cameron himself has received three Academy Awards for “Titanic,” including: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing.
A scene from “Avatar: The Way of Water.” ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
But the creator is concentrated on making films for the viewers.
“What I try to do,” Cameron detailed, “and what I’ve always tried to do for my entire filmmaking career, is to create the most riveting and engaging experience in a movie theatre that I can conceivably, humanly do.”
The first sci-fi film to win Best Picture was 2023’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve and manufacturing designer Patrice Vermette on set. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Meanwhile, Cameron has been very vocal about his beloved initiatives over the past few days.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, the “Titanic” filmmaker shut down Matt Damon’s claims that he was provided the main function of Jake Sully in “Avatar.”
“He was never offered the part,” Cameron declared. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did? Then we wound up on a call and he said, ‘I love to explore doing a movie with you. I have a lot of respect for you as a filmmaker. [‘Avatar’] sounds intriguing.’”
Timothee Chalamet in “Dune: Part 2.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Damon, 55, has said on numerous events that he turned down an offer to take 10 p.c of the gross revenue from the project.
But according to Cameron, the actor was busy filming a “Jason Bourne” film.
“He was never offered,” he added. “There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.”
Matt Damon in 2016’s “Jason Bourne.” ©Universal/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
Sam Worthington took on the function instead and “Avatar” turned the highest-grossing movie of all time, incomes $2.9 billion worldwide.
“If, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do ‘Avatar,’ then it wouldn’t have happened,” Cameron continued. “Trust me on that.”
But the famed director still respects Damon, who has starred in the “Jason Bourne” franchise since 2002.
“He felt compelled to call me personally and tell me; he said he didn’t want it to come from the agent — that’s an honorable guy,” he said. “So all respect to Matt. I’d love to work with him someday. But that never happened. It was a conflation of different things that were happening.”
Matt Damon in “Jason Bourne.” ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Damon told Chris Wallace in 2023 that he couldn’t go away manufacturing for the 2007 movie “Bourne Ultimatum” early, which induced him to miss out on “Avatar.”
“I knew that we were gonna need work at the end, and I had to get it all the way to the finish line, and I would have to leave the movie kind of early, and leave them in the lurch a little bit,” he expressed. “And I didn’t wanna do that. I desperately wanted to work with Cameron, ’cause he works so rarely.”
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