When rumors started swirling around a few weeks ago that Michelle Rodriguez, who is more popularly known in movie circles for her portrayal of Letty Ortiz in the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise, will be joining the cast of “Avatar 2,” nearly everyone was surprised.
The good actress that she is, Michelle Rodriguez will be a welcome addition to “Avatar 2” or to any franchise movie for that matter. But it came as a surprise because the rumors just emanated out of the blue.
No less than Michelle Rodriguez herself confirmed on September 14 during a fashion show, that she is not joining “Avatar 2” as its new cast member, notes Realty Today.
During the Gabriela Cadena fashion show, Michelle said that critically-acclaimed director James Cameron did not ask her to appear in the sequel of the most successful film of all time.
She said that what she knows is that the producers are bringing back a lot of other characters for “Avatar 2” including Sigourney Weaver, and also Stephen Lang, who played the bad guy in the first movie, but she is not going to be in it, details the New York Post.
The movie will still have for its main protagonists Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. “Avatar 2” will hit theaters in December 2017.
Different character
As her character, Dr. Grace Augustine was already killed off in the first movie, veteran actress Sigourney Weaver will return to “Avatar 2” but through a different character already.
Sigourney personally disclosed it during her recent guesting at “The Jonathan Ross Show.”
There were rumors also that Pandora will have a prison theme. It was actually Goksan Ozman, the movie’s artist, who dropped such hint but an official word has yet to come from James Cameron.
The director said in a previous interview that there will be a conflict between dominating nature and integrating with nature. He said that the primary conflict between human view kind of dominating nature and the Na’vi view of being integrated into nature is the same. However it manifests itself in different ways, Cameron was quoted as saying.
An interactive movie
More than eyeing to match or surpass the box-office success of “Avatar” as the most successful film in history, Director James Cameron wants viewers to enjoy the sequel “Avatar 2” in the most interactive way possible.
He has been employing state-of-the-art filming technology in the shooting of not just the sequel but also the next two films of the franchise – “Avatar 3” and “Avatar 4.” These were, in fact, the reasons why from a 2016 playdate, “Avatar 2” has been moved to a December 2017 release to global theaters.
“Avatar 3” and “Avatar 4” will come out to cinemas in December 2018 and December 2019, respectively.
The critically-acclaimed producer, writer and director, in a recent interview said that it is mainly because of the technological constraints given the advanced technology and filmmaking equipment needed for the filming that prompted them to push back the release date of the movie.
Cameron said that he wanted to show a novel ecosystem in Pandora which means various underwater scenes that needed cutting-edge motion capture technology for higher frame rates, sharper visuals, and realism.
The director added that he wants nothing but the best for “Avatar 2” and that is why he is not pressured into releasing the sequel to the most successful film in history based on ever growing fan clamor.
Instead, he is taking his sweet time in making a really good movie, perhaps even thinking of equalling or surpassing the feat of “Avatar” when it was released in 2009.
But 20th Century Fox, which is producing the movie, says that it is okay with the Christmas 2017 showing of “Avatar 2” as per CEO Jim Gianopulos. He made the announcement during the Gabelli & Company’s Movie and Entertainment Conference held in July at New York City.