The creator of the Star Wars movies, George Lucas, got one thing when wrong when making his science fiction movies says James Cameron. Like Goerge Lucas, James Cameron is one of the most influential sci-fi directors of all time and helped to shape the genre with his Terminator movies and Alien sequel.
The new Avatar 2 aims to have a similar impact, bring more depth and life to the world of Pandora helped by ground-breaking special effects. The new sci-fi action movie is set years after the first Avatar movie, and continues the story of Jake Sully and the native Na’Vi.
Now, speaking with fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez at Variety, James Cameron has explained why George Lucas made a mistake with Star Wars, and he hopes Avatar 2 can avoid that same error. Cameron said “If you look at how George Lucas did it in the universe that he created, which is astonishing, he chose to make each different biome, each different culture, have their own planet around the galaxy. And I thought, “Well, that’s not the way Earth works.””
He continued “Earth has the Arctic, the Antarctic, the rainforest, the desert and the mountains. All different biomes. And in doing my research on indigenous culture, you just see such an explosion of ideas and wardrobe and belief systems. I thought, “Man, I can spend as many films as I want to make just on Pandora, just by going to different places.”
Of course, Cameron is right to say that Lucas’s approach to making sci-fi planets where each is one entire habitat, is not how planetary environments and biomes work in real life. However, what he might be missing is that Lucas’s wasn’t necessarily going for realism and besides, is it truly important that fiction emulates reality?
What his comments do show, however, is his commitment to immersion. That, if anything, is what the Avatar movies are designed for above all, and many would argue that they’re very successful in that regard. For that dedication, Cameron can be celebrated. For more on Avatar 2, take a look at our guide to the Avatar cast, and the Avatar 3 release date.