James Cameron has revealed that he's already filmed scenes for Avatar 3 and 4 because he didn't want younger cast members to age significantly between sequels.
The director reportedly shot the third Avatar movie and the first act of the fourth movie whilst also filming Avatar: The Way of Water because he wanted to avoid something he calls the "Stranger Things effect." He told Entertainment Weekly that he was keen to keep continuity in the sequels and ensure that the younger actors didn't age out of their roles.
"Otherwise, you get–and I love Stranger Things–but you get the Stranger Things effect, where they're supposed to still be in high school [but] they look like they're 27," Cameron said, explaining his thought process behind the ambitious production schedule. "You know, I love the show. It's okay, we'll suspend disbelief. We like the characters. But, you know."
The second Avatar movie introduced a number of younger characters, including Tuk, played by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss who was seven years old when she was first cast in the role but is now 13 years of age, and Spider, portrayed by Jack Champion, who Cameron says has grown "like a weed" since he was initially cast at the age of 12. He is now 18.
"We shot with Jack when he was 14 and 15, almost up to 16. So we were shooting him over an 18-month period," Cameron said before pointing out that there will be a "big time jump" after the first act of the fourth movie. He explained that he decided to keep the cameras rolling up to that point, but that time became less of an issue after that.
"We jump as many years as we need to jump," he teased about Avatar 4, recalling from memory that the leap forward occurs on Page 35 of the script. "They're young men, young women at that point, when we get to the B side of that time jump."
"I enjoy seeing them grow up as people, and I'm very proud of the young – I'll even call them adults – that they've all become," producer Jon Landau remarked about the actors. "I think audiences will want to go on the journey with them."
Cameron previously indicated that the box office performance of The Way of Water and the as-yet-untitled Avatar 3 would determine whether the fourth and fifth Avatar movies end up getting made, explaining that they might "not go on endlessly" if it proves not to be profitable.
Avatar 2 hit theaters on December 16 and opened to an impressive $134 million weekend box office victory in the US alongside and an additional $435 million globally. However, according to Cameron, the film has to become the 3rd or 4th highest-grossing film of all time to make money.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/avatar-james-cameron-already-shot-scenes-3-and-4-sequels