James Cameron has half-anecdotally announced in a 12.19 Independent interview that Avatar, his long-awaited return to feature filmmaking, won’t hit screens until 2012. Yeah, I’m joshing: he actually said 2009, but what’s the difference? The guy seems afflicted with a near- terminal case of foreplay syndrome — a condition in which the victim becomes far more intoxicated with the rigors of preparing and diddling around (and endlessly talking about same) than pulling the trigger.
A casting breakdown I was sent about 10 months ago for Project 880 (i.e., Avatar) reported (or indicated) a November ’06 start date, which seemed to synch with a generally-understood projection that Avatar would be finished in time for a summer or fall ’08 debut. Repeating: the longer a cherished dream project festers and meanders, the higher the odds of it feeling like a fizzle when it finally arrives.
“I remember going with a great sense of anticipation to each new Stanley Kubrick film and thinking, ‘Can he pull it off and amaze me again?'” Cameron tells Independent interviewer James Rampton. “And he always did. The lesson I learned from Kubrick was, ‘Never do the same thing twice.’ I always want to find something mentally engaging, [and] Avatar is not like anything else I’ve done…nor were Titanic or Terminator or Aliens.
“I’ll spend many months completing the special effects on Avatar, and it will not be released until the summer of 2009. It’s quite a challenge — and for that reason, I embrace it.”