James Cameron's Avatar Comic-Con 2009 Panel Archive
By Stephen Johnson - Posted Jul 23, 2009[3:03] Brian Leahy: "Welcome, all. Sit tight. Stephen Johnson is on the scene and getting ready to bring you everything Avatar!"
[3:04] Stehpen Johnson: "Hey, everybody, it is I, Steve Johnson. I had to wake up from my fainting spell caused by the cast of Twilight. (Or not.)"
[3:05] Stehpen Johnson: "everybody psyched for some hot Cameron-on-Avatar action? James Cameron is going to, hopefully, be showing off a bunch of new Avatar footage. I'm pretty hyped for it, I gotta say."
[3:07] Stehpen Johnson: "To answer a question from a reader: A bunch of Twilighter have left, but a LOT stayed. I hear from Dana Vinson that there are like 6 thousand people outside in the blazing heat, waiting to get in here.... and it's full (almost) already."
[3:09] Stehpen Johnson: "Right now, people, the lights are up and there is nothing going on. Things are running a tad behind, I think."
[3:10] Stehpen Johnson: "Also: I apologize in advance if my blog coverage cuts off suddenly. My laptop battery can't last forever."
[3:11] Stehpen Johnson: "Someone asked how the 3D has been: I gotta tell you, honestly, the Disney 3D was the best 3D I've ever seen in my entire life. The Alice in Wonderland and Christmas Carol Stuff looks better than I've ever seen that gimmick look."
[3:14] Stehpen Johnson: "A quick note on a panel I attended but didn't blog: Show a little love for Joe Dante's The Hole. It's a horror flick from the guy who made Gremlins, and definitely has that old-school, 80s, PG-horror vibe."
[3:14] Stehpen Johnson: "Still waiting on Avatar panel. Just who does this "James Cameron" think he is? :)"
[3:22] Stehpen Johnson: "Allright! Here we go! First scenes ever from Avatar are coming up later!"
[3:23] Stehpen Johnson: "A Fox executive is introducing the great James Cameron. It's a much more mature crowd than the Twilight crowd, but the reaction to Cameron's appearance is just as passionate, if not so screechy."
[3:25] Stehpen Johnson: "Cameron says he feels like "I'm one of you guys. I make movies because I'm a fan of Sci-fi, fantasy and other worlds.""
[3:26] Stehpen Johnson: "Cameron says he came from a town that had less people than are in this room."
[3:27] Stehpen Johnson: "You can tell the real sci-fi nerds from the fake ones, and Cameron is the actual article."
[3:27] Stehpen Johnson: "25 minutes of AVATAR! Amazing!"
[3:28] Stehpen Johnson: "They're going to show nearly a half hour of footage, here, people! Amazing!"
[3:28] Stehpen Johnson: "But sadly, there won't be live blogging. Screen must be closed. Sorry. be back soon."
[3:54] Stehpen Johnson: "Back... Wow."
[3:55] Stehpen Johnson: "Okay. I just became one of the first 6000 or so people on earth to have seen part of Avatar. I'm still sort of soaking it in, but I'll give you my fresh-off-the-dome impressions:"
[3:56] Stehpen Johnson: "First off: This is like no other movie you have ever seen. It's ambitious, and entirely original, full of digital effects, flawlessly executed, in an entirely imaginative world."
[3:57] Stehpen Johnson: "The plot (and here are the spoilers) Humans come to the distant planet of Pandora, a jungle planet filled with both beauty and death. the other humanoids on the planet are Navi, indigenous people, savages, honestly, but they're 10 feet tall, and blue."
[3:58] Stehpen Johnson: "The humans, to fight the Navi, create a way of "becoming" one, inhabitng the body of a blue, tall guy."
[3:59] Stehpen Johnson: "The movie seems to surround a soldier transforming into a Navi, first in the physical world, by inhabitng a body, and later, emotionally/spiritually transforming through his relationship with one of the natives."
[4:00] Stehpen Johnson: "It's, as you can tell, an ambitious story. The clips I saw were are follows:"
[4:00] Stehpen Johnson: "1) Jake, the human, having his mind put into the tall, Navi body."
[4:01] Stehpen Johnson: "2) Jake "trying out" his new, super-powers in the lab."
[4:03] Stehpen Johnson: "3) Jake enters the deadly jungle, and notices a lot of the beauty there. Jake meets Neytiri, a beautiful native. Neytiri tells Jake he is "like a baby" after she saves him from marauding creatures in the jungle."
[4:04] Stehpen Johnson: "4) The final scene we see was the most interesting. Jake has seemingly been taken into the Navi tribe and has been tasked with taming a flying, dragon-like creature. They battle, but eventually, Jake tames his pet, then leaps off a cliff and flies."
[4:06] Stehpen Johnson: "As for how it is, honestly, it's hard to say... but it is like everythin Cameron has ever done: Fully and totally committed. it's obvious Cameron has not compromised anything here. This is so utterly and completely his vision. And that kind of committment is the source of all great art."
[4:07] Stehpen Johnson: "This movie touches on big themes: War. Nature. Righteousness. Justice. It's a big, big movie in all ways, but, again like all Cameron movies, the small moments are there, the details are in place."
[4:08] Stehpen Johnson: "Overall, I'm enthralled here. A fan just thanked James Cameron for making a movie that is entirely original, not based on anything and not a remake. I heartily concur. Big ups for the effort, Cameron."
[4:10] Stehpen Johnson: "A fan asked: where did you get the idea for this flick? Cameron says he came up with it years before, when he was the CEO of Digital Domain (a special effects company). Obviously, back then, it couldn't be done. But the technology has come far enough that Cameron was able to do it."
[4:11] Stehpen Johnson: "Oh, forgot to tell you: Sigorney Weaver is here with other members of the Avatar cast."
[4:11] Stehpen Johnson: "Weaver confirms that everything in the movie has come out of James Cameron's head."
[4:14] Poll: Will Avatar live up to James Cameron's ambitious vision?
Yes: ( 73% )
No: ( 5% )
How would I know?: ( 22% )
[4:16] Stehpen Johnson: "James Cameron says Avatar is meant to make you think while you're enjoying it... That always makes me a little nervous... Early prediction: the thing that could sink this flick would be a pretentious, too-serious tone. It's impossible to tell whether that's the case from the clips, of course. We'll have to wait for it to come out!"
[4:17] Stehpen Johnson: "Cameron says he's going to "take over as many iMax theaters" on August 21st to "let a global audience see 15 minutes of Avatar free!""
[4:18] Stehpen Johnson: "There you have it: on August 21st, you'll have your own look at Avatar!"
[4:18] Stehpen Johnson: "And on that note, the panel ends... Avatar is going to be HUGE. I'm not sure a huge what, of course... but it will be HUGE."
Comments
Displaying 1–2 of 2
Blackronin357
Damn, sounds nice! Wish I coulda been there.
ketheric
Like you said, it's great to see a truely original and creative idea make it through the process unscathed. Great to see there's still room for those who want to take genuine risks and push the envelope, can't wait.
Displaying 1–2 of 2
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