UNITED KINGDOM: The world premiere of the most expensive movie ever made, James Cameron's highly anticipated 3D epic, "Avatar"

Record ID: 219145

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: The world premiere of the most expensive movie ever made, James Cameron's highly anticipated 3D epic, "Avatar"
  • Date: 13th December 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 10, 2009) (REUTERS) JAMES CAMERON (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR JAMES CAMERON SAYING: "You know when you are a kid and you dream that you think you can fly and when you are an adult, you stop dreaming you can fly, well at that moment I have to make the movie about the flying dream. This film has got a lot of flight in it, it has got a lot of beauty in it, it has got the thrills and spills and action and scary creatures and all that stuff. But what I think what people won't be expecting is the emotionality of the film and the beauty of the film, and those are there by design, but it is impossible to convey them in the advertising."
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVADL0RR9H8EHQKRUSWSEXBHZRI3
  • Story Text: Billed as the biggest movie event of the decade, Oscar winning director James Cameron took to the "blue" carpet in London's Leicester Square for the 3D world premier of 'Avatar' on Thursday (December 10).
    Joining him on the carpet -- blue not the usual red in a nod to the Na'vi fantasy characters in the film -- were stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana.
    James Cameron told Reuters he was driven to make the magical film so he wouldn't forget the essence of youth.
    "You know when you are a kid and you dream that you think you can fly and when you are an adult, you stop dreaming you can fly, well at that moment I have to make the movie about the flying dream," he said.
    Set on the fictional word of Pandora, this 3D epic tells the story of wheelchair bound ex-marine Jake Sully, played by Australian Sam Worthington. Given the opportunity to control a cloned alien body with his mind, Sully used his new alien vehicle to infiltrate the native Na'vi people in an attempt to assist a corporation extract a priceless mineral.
    However in learning the ways of the Na'vi, Sullyup fighting for the survival of the alien race.
    "It has got the thrills and spills and action and scary creatures and all that stuff. But what I think what people won't be expecting is the emotionality of the film and the beauty of the film, and those are there by design, but it is impossible to convey them in the advertising," said Cameron.
    Originally conceived in 1995 Cameron had to wait over ten years for cinema technology to develop enough to allow him to fulfill his dream of creating the digital masterpiece. Avatar blends live action and computer animation.
    Actress Sigourney Weaver, who last worked with Cameron on 'Aliens', said she was overwhelmed when she finally saw the completed film.
    "When I fist saw the film by the end I was crying because when I read the script I thought this is so great I don't see how he can ever do, this is impossible. And you know he really has done it and I am just in awe of what he has done, it is just such a different kind of experience for an audience it is for the whole family, it is for all the earthlings and I think it is just going to inaugurate a new era in film making," she said.
    Cameron broke his own record of making the world's most expensive film. Avatar's budget, well in excess of 2.5 million dollars, trumps Titanic, also directed and produced by Cameron, which cost 200 million at the time.
    Titanic grossed 1.8 billion dollars and Hollywood will be bracing itself on opening night to if Cameron's first film in 12 years will recoup the massive production costs.
    The film has given a boost to the career of leading man Sam Worthington, who will go on to star in Clash of the Titans next year. He's enjoying his moment in the limelight.
    "I love my agent! They get me to work. How did it happen? I am cheap, as simple as that," he said.
    Avatar has something for everyone actor Joel Moore told Reuters: "It is politically relevant, it is socially relevant, it is everything people really want to have when they go to the theatre, especially with the 3D and the groundbreaking digital technology that is involved in the making of Avatar."
    As an original screen play Avatar does not enjoy the kind of fan base that comes with movie adaptations of wildly popular novels like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
    The film's producer, Jon Landau, believes that's the film's strength.
    "I think what audiences want, they want something new, they are craving it, they don't want something that is just based on another TV show or another sequel so I think that is part of what is the exciting thing is for them," he said.
    Avatar opens in cinemas globally December 18.
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