In an interesting turn of events, Cameron has pushed himself back from the actual writing duties for the AVATAR novels in addition to the help he has enlisted for the actual sequels (and prequel?) scripts. It was long held that Cameron was tasking himself with the novels (which I asked him about personally back in 2011), but obviously due to the immense scope of work that needs to get done in a short period of time, he is reaching out for some assistance.
Of course he is closely overlooking all creative aspects of the novels and the movies to be sure. Cameron has hired Steven Charles Gould (JUMPER) who has a solid background in Sci-Fi writing to pen four books. In fact, he is the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Says Cameron: "Steven Gould is one of the shining lights in contemporary science fiction, and I've long admired the worlds and characters he’s created in his books and stories. He is already working closely with me and the screenwriters to flesh out the expanding world of AVATAR."
Looking forward to seeing the results of this collaboration for not one, but several books in the AVATAR universe!
Finally had some time to edit, render and upload this clip for you after getting back from CinemaCon. More on the way!
In this clip I am talking with James Cameron about a few things: 1. Cameron dismisses the rumors that he will not be shooting at the bottom of the Pacific after the Japan earthquake and aftershocks. He will indeed be diving and shooting, potentially AT THE SITE of the quake in the Japan trench to see what has happened. His plans are to head down in June of 2012. Note how eloquently he corrected me about the name of the third plate that interacts with that area of the Pacific floor! I did know that it was the Australian plate, but for some reason I said Indian. He was on the ball though.
2. We discussed his brilliant higher frame rate presentation! The action scenes looked especially spectacular. With Peter Jackson now shooting THE HOBBIT at 48 fps and Cameron definitely going with a higher frame rate for AVATAR 2, it is only a matter of time for this new standard to become the norm.
3. As many (I say MANY) of you have been asking me privately and publicly for an update on the AVATAR novel I did take the time to ask Cameron about it. Unfortunately there is no real news to report on and it will be ready when it is ready. Don't forget that he is also hard at work on the script for AVATAR 2 too and if they are to start shooting next summer that has to be the priority I would wager.
Time was clearly an issue when speaking with Cameron as he is in high demand. I want to thank Jim for the time he was able to share and I look forward to further discussions!
