14 DAY TRIAL // James Cameron spent the last 12 years or so of his life working on the film that will hopefully become his masterpiece, topping even “Titanic” in terms of critical reception and, of course, ticket sales. “Avatar” is out in theaters on December 18 and, when it does, it will not only show that it was worth the wait, but also change cinema for eternity, star Sigourney Weaver says in a new interview with the Guardian.
Weaver plays scientist Grace Augustine in the film and, though she’s well trained in the ways of promoting a film by the book given her long career in the industry, she says she’s never believed harder in anything than she does in “Avatar.” She’s not a very emotional person either, but this film has managed to strike a chord with her, both because it touches upon a very actual subject (the destruction of natural environments) and because it truly is a beautiful story.
Fans who’ve waited this long for “Avatar” to come out will not be disappointed, Weaver promises. “It will pick you up and shake you like a little rag doll. I’m not too much of an emotional creature, but I was weeping by the end. I remember reading the script and thinking, I love this but how can he ever do this. Nothing like this has been done before – floating mountains! I think for a certain generation it will change what they want to happen in the cinema. It is as big as sound. I hope it won’t impact every movie, but for the big movies it raises the bar – it throws the bar away,” the star says.
She then goes on to explain how she almost did not get the part because Cameron did not want “Avatar” to be associated with “Alien,” the franchise that launched Weaver’s career and to which she is still bound in the mind of the fans. In the end, though, he decided to give it a shot, with Weaver herself doing her best to make sure she made the role of Grace Augustine as different from that of Ripley as possible, including dying her hair a striking shade of red. And so cinema history was written with the making of “Avatar.”
“Each frame of the film took 100 hours of computer time to animate. Cameron invented new camera technology that focuses on actors’ eyes, allowing him to capture and animate their emotions as well as their movements – Cameron calls it e-motion capture technology. The result promises to be something of an acid trip, taking you inside another world, replete with floating mountains and pink, flying jellyfish. Its half-human / half-alien avatars are remarkably convincing despite their blue skin, Spock ears and swishy Tails,” the Guardian says of the film, based on the talk with Sigourney Weaver.