The director and cast of Avatar —James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington—have seen success even they couldn't have imagined while working on the film. In just a few months, it became the highest-grossing movie of all time. Director James Cameron already has three Oscars® for Titanic, the second-highest-grossing film and will likely add to that count at the 2010 ceremony, where Avatar is nominated in nine categories.

The gang reunited at James' headquarters in L.A.
Sigourney: You told me once you started thinking about this movie when you were very young, you know, 14 or 15. That this is the movie you wanted to see. What were you thinking about back then, flying on a banshee? Or a beautiful warrior woman like Natiri?

James: I remember when I was in college, I dreamed that I was going through a book of paintings, and a couple of paintings had a glowing ground. When I woke up I thought, "Wow, those paintings were really cool; I wish I could paint like that." And then I thought, "Wait a minute, I thought of those paintings, so I painted them."

Sigourney: What did you think would be the most daunting challenge?

James: The biggest challenge was [the Navis' faces]. In a really emotional moment, just like a tear welling up in the corner of the eye, could we make that as real and emotionally compelling to the audience as a photographic version of it?

Sigourney: And you did it.


James: We did it, we did. We pulled it off.

NEXT STORY

Next Story