James Cameron has officially announced that he will begin shooting his next film, Avatar, in April. Although the blockbuster director believes he will complete shooting by this November, the film's extensive special effects shots will command a summer of 2009 release. I remember hearing about Avatar being a possible project years ago, and it started this whole ridiculous debate on whether or not directors will need real actors in the future (it was one of the first movies that was to dabble in "digital actors"). But it seems Cameron didn't feel the technology was quite there, so he moved on to other endeavors, one in particular that involved a sinking ship.

What a dummy.

During post-production for Avatar, King James will also begin pre-production for his following film, Battle Angel. I'm a little bit of a Battle Angel Alita nerd, so I was really hoping for that to be his next project, but I'll take what I can get at this point. At least it's not another documentary.

This is tremendous news for all movie buffs, really. Cameron, for all the backlash and cynicism he received for making the biggest film of all time, is one of the best commercial directors alive. It's good to have him back.

Congrats are in order to Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, co-directors of Little Miss Sunshine, for beating the competition and scoring a Directors Guild nomination this week. You won't find me rooting for them, though. Alfonso Cuaron and Paul Greengrass -- arguably the two best directorial efforts this year -- get the shaft in favor of a well-intentioned, well-made, fresh but unexceptional indie-turned-commercial fave? I liked the movie too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's just another reminder that life isn't fair.

Poor Clint. In a surprising turn of events, he failed to get a Director's Guild nod in wake of the cooling buzz of Letters From Iwo Jima. It's very possible the movie regains its Oscar heat when it goes wide, but what looked like a shoo-in for Best Picture is starting to look like a possible snub. Let's all pray that if there is a snub, it goes to Children of Men. I'm ready to take to the streets with you, MaryAnn!

New Line head honcho Robert Shaye came out with a statement yesterday blasting Peter Jackson by essentially calling the Lord of the Rings director greedy. Jackson has been requesting a third-party accounting audit on the Rings receipts after "finance anomalies" were found on a previous, partial audit.

Shaye comes off pretty petty in his attack, making the entire issue personal (this is something the loser in an argument usually resorts to). He gleefully points out the amount of money Jackson has made as if that accounts for the amount he should have made. Jackson issued a calm, collected, and much more intelligent response later the same day which clearly pointed out where the class in this battle can be found.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us