Featured Doer: James Cameron

With three Oscars and the record for the highest-grossing film of all time, you might think James Cameron's ready to rest on his laurels--but you'd be wrong. After the massive success of "Avatar,"
which broke records at the box office and on Blu-ray, Cameron's gearing up for the sequel. He's also helping NASA build a high-resolution 3-D camera for the Mars rover, writing a live-action adaptation of the manga "Battle Angel," and keeping his heavy production schedule underway.

Cameron has pushed the limits of technology, budget, and innovation with his impressive roster of films leading us to wonder--what will his next project look like and how will we consume it?

He is one of 15 candidates for a video interview in our HuffPost Spotlight Series, presented by HP. The top five question-getters will be interviewed using your questions.

Question submissions for the Spotlight Series are now closed. Thank you for your questions and stay tuned for our interviews with the top five question-getters!

Comments

[TheRealWalrus]

04:01 PM on 06/02/2010

By the way, I wanted to thank you for not hitting us over the head with the science in Avatar. For instance, a lot of people failed to understand that Pandora's magnetic field levitated the floating mountains, just like the chunk of unobtainium on Selfridge's desk was levitated by a magnet. It's refreshing to see a movie that assumes a certain grasp of science. Not a question, I realize, but thanks again.

[TheRealWalrus]

03:53 PM on 06/02/2010

Mr. Cameron--

In the sequel, do you plan to address some of the scientific questions raised in Avatar?

1) Pandora must spend a lot of time in the penumbra (shadow) of its parent planet. Is that why bioluminescence is so common? What happens to the weather when Pandora is dark for weeks at a time?

2) Can someone jump off the floating mountains, holding a big chunk of unobtainium ore, and slowly fall to the ground?

3) Why do the Na'vi have only 4 limbs and 2 eyes, when the rest of the animals have 6 limbs and 4 eyes? Why did the Avatars have 5 fingers and toes? Was that to make the human interface easier?

4) Does that 4-year trip from Earth to Pandora include relativistic time dilation? How fast do the transport ships travel?

5) Could data from the Tree of Voices be backed up to another tree, or is it gone for good?

6) How could the Avatars receive their signals in the intense magnetic fields where ships' navigation equipment didn't work?

7) Does Dr. Augustine still exist in some form within the neural net of Pandora?

8) Do you get sick of people who've never heard of "unobtainium" complaining about the apparent silliness of the word? (I like it.)

[Amin Khad]

10:00 PM on 05/25/2010

Dear Mr. Cameron,

Congratulations on your epic accomplishment with Avatar.

My question to you is about the deficit and projected increases in Social Security and Medicare spending. David Walker, the former Comptroller General of the federal government, has been traveling the country saying that these programs will swamp the federal budget as the baby boomer generation retires.

What is your view on how spending should be cut to prepare for the coming expenses, and what do you think important figures with influence, like yourself, can do to better inform the public and advance the discussion on this looming fiscal crisis?

[Daniel Jay]

09:02 PM on 05/25/2010

CG artists and special effects studios can create everything except the feeling of immediacy and spontaneity one experiences at a live performance with real actors on a stage. A good actor can transform him or herself into anyone or anything right before your eyes, if they have enough talent.

Do you think its possible that all the incredible, amazingly realistic and highly polished 3D digital effects one can now see in so many movies will inspire a renewed interest in live theater?

[Philm35]

04:18 PM on 05/25/2010

Mr. Cameron, you are clearly at the top of your game when it comes to state-of-the-art film production technique. But some of your work, most notalby "Avatar" has received criticism for rather weak character and story development . Would you consider collaborating with a really great screenwriter who could complement your fiilmmaking prowess?

[Davaldod]

02:00 PM on 05/25/2010

Mr. Cameron, there is a consensus among my family and friends that the current 3D technology adds nothing to good movies and makes bad movies worse. Many people feel that 3D is being rammed down our throats as a way to charge more money at the box office and as a way to boost home TV sales. And everyone I talk to refuses to hang out at home wearing glasses just to watch TV.

When 3D is part of a film, the experience becomes about the depth and not about the story (No one would say a book is better if the type appeared to float over the page). And the unnatural trick being played on the eyes in the form of convergence and accommodation is a great burden on many people's physiology.

So when will glasses-based 3D go away and why should we care?

[Kiki1kat]

12:09 PM on 05/25/2010

Mr. Cameron. I am a 6th grade student at Claremont Middle School here in Oakland, California and I am currently taking digital media classes at my middle school. We are the only middle school in Oakland that offers this type of class. We just had a field trip to Autodesk and they came to our school. How can I and others, do more in the area of 3-D? Do you think that 3-D will remain and more televisions will become 3-D?

[DarleenMB]

09:28 PM on 05/24/2010

I would love to see you revisit Pandora with a follow up to the first movie. I wonder what has happened to the humans who stayed behind. What will happen when the corporate losers get back to earth?

and after viewing the film 8 times it finally dawned on me just what "unobtanium" might be. Is it what makes the floating mountains of Pandora float? I figured that would explain how RDA got all that heavy equipment off Earth and to Pandora. Anti-gravity rocks. ;-)

[ghost geezer]

06:36 PM on 05/24/2010

I regret that I did not enjoy Avatar, didn't last through it. I grant the impressiveness
of the special effects, but for me all drama starts with the script, and yours was the
usual parade of cliches, in fact for me worse than average.

Will we ever see work that respects what should be the core of any drama, the script,
not the scenery? Are you sensitive to this? Do you care. You need to realize that
your product patronizes and underestimates some. On the other hand, that group
may be too small to count. If so, what can be said of American culture?

[mbtyke]

06:32 PM on 05/24/2010

I'm seeing a lot of backlash against 3D films by critics who are upset at the sub-par quality of post-production 2D-to-3D conversions (and rightfully so). 3D has come and gone because it has been treated as a fad or another special effect that will draw ticket-buying viewers out from their DVD players and back into the theatre.

Will this happen again? What needs to be done to communicate to viewers and Hollywood the value of shooting in 3D so it will have staying power? How can 3D be done in a cost-effective way? What are the barriers to bringing a true-3D experience to the general public?

_ michael

[paulbenjouse]

04:30 PM on 05/24/2010

There has been recent criticism by major directors and movie critics that 3D is a "waste of a dimension" or suggest that it is a novelty that will die down. Is 3D a practical core for future producers or is it an extension as a creative outlet?....just another choice?

[Sabum]

03:08 PM on 05/24/2010

Your work in the past, and most recently Avatar, feature Space Marines. Will you ever make a stand alone Space Marines movie? You seem to have a precision like ability to cast the perfect rowdy group.

[Temsi]

02:17 PM on 05/24/2010

When, oh, when will we get a Blu-Ray of The Abyss?
The letterboxed DVD is wearing thin for a lot of us, now that we have 60"+ HD screens.

[Gail Zawacki]

02:11 PM on 05/24/2010

Dear Mr. Cameron,

I thought Avatar is one the best movies I have ever seen, particularly because it venerates and understands the importance of trees. Trees are the foundation of our ecosystem, just as coral reefs are the basis of life in the sea. Both are being destroyed by fuel emissions.

I have been posting photographs and links to scientific research at www.witsendnj.blogspot.com on this topic. Our ecosystem is collapsing because ozone is toxic to vegetation, damaging the stomata of foliage and interfering with the ability to photosynthesize. The trees have become so weakened by decades of exposure, and escalating levels of tropospheric ozone, that they are unable to withstand naturally occurring insects, disease, fungus, and wind.

This is an existential threat to humans which may explain why the facts are almost taboo. Will you investigate this? Someone with authority needs to bring this issue to the attention of our elected officials and the public so that we can switch to clean, renewable energy before we have massive crop failures and famine.

Please feel free to contact me. Thank you for reading.

Gail Zawacki
Oldwick, NJ

[AMF8567]

06:27 AM on 05/23/2010

I enjoyed Avatar but have a question with the popularity of Avatar where the Actors are of course made up to be unrecognizable and the success of animated films like Up is there less of an emphasis on movie stars?