Actor says he wasn’t sure what to expect from working with James Cameron

Dec 18, 2009 13:24 GMT  ·  By

James Cameron’s latest movie, the one he’s been working on for roughly the past 12 years, give or take, is about to premiere in theaters across the world and to say that high hopes are pinned on it is a clear understatement at this point. Sam Worthington also stars in “Avatar” and, while happy with the outcome, he says working with the famed director was certainly not a walk in the park.

For one, he tells the BBC, Cameron is one of the most unpredictable directors out there, because he expects his actors to do as he bids them to in order to get the results he wants. For instance, Worthington reveals, they had to shoot a scene for the film in Hawaii and, while many would think that would turn out like a mini-holiday, he drew the short stick on the situation and ended up shooting scenes in nothing but his underwear and a wig.

“We were wearing nothing but a lace g-string... and a weird wig. I thought Hawaii was going to be a holiday to be honest. I thought I’d take my surfboard and go surfing,” Sam recalls. “We get there and we work and this guy comes past and says ‘What are you doing?’ I said ‘We’re making a movie.’ He says: ‘Big budget movie. Who’s the director?’ I said, ‘That bloke over there.’ And there’s Jim with a handycam. He goes: ‘Is that James Cameron? He’s gone downhill since ‘Titanic’!” the actor adds laughing.

However, all the efforts of the cast and the entire team working on making “Avatar” the visual masterpiece critics say it is have paid off in the end, Cameron says, also in an interview with the BBC. The director, known for the iron fist with which he rules on the set of his films, is gunning for the title of “king of the universe,” after proclaiming himself the “king of the world” with “Titanic.” What with the groundbreaking technology used for the film and the moving story, Cameron is almost positive he stands good chances to get that distinction once the “Avatar” reaches moviegoers.

“The film espouses this love / hate relationship with technology. Obviously we use technology to tell this story that’s a celebration of nature, which is an irony in itself. It’s not that technology is bad, it’s not that technological civilization is bad, it’s just that we need to be in control of the technical process. We’re not going to be able to just rip our clothes off and run back into the wilderness – first of all, there’s not a whole lot of it left, secondly, that’s not going to work for eight billion people,” Cameron says of the message behind “Avatar.”