Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron Wednesday said he would like to visit S.S. Rajamouli’s set to watch the Baahubali director create magic.
“So, I think you're shooting for a while, right, on the new film Varanasi?” Cameron asked Rajamouli during an interactive session ahead of the 19 December release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Rajamouli replied that he is midway through the shoot of his next directorial Varanasi and will need another seven to eight months to complete filming for the big-budget action drama, which stars Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the lead roles.
“Okay, plenty of time. Well, tell me when you're doing something fun. I don't know, something with tigers,” said Cameron, adding, “May I come to your set sometime and watch you create your magic?”.
During the interaction, James Cameron and S.S. Rajamouli also discussed the pressures of film promotion and the creative processes involved in the making of a film.
“As we start capturing the sequences, as we start putting them together in the editing table towards the post-production, the initial ideas, many times where we started, seems they are not working, a new shape is coming through, and it is very difficult for me to either bring the original idea to the form or just give in to the new idea. It's a constant struggle for me, I can't make the choices so easily,” said Cameron.
The filmmakers then discussed industry concerns, including spiralling VFX costs, falling theatrical revenues, and the dangers of using generative AI.
“I believe that generative AI is very dangerous if it eliminates that sacred process of working with and through the actors to tell stories. Because I find that a feedback process is very, very positive for me and for the film,” said Cameron.
“So you could give a text prompt to a generative AI model and say, show me something that looks like Avatar. It can do that. It couldn't do that before 2009. So that's one thing. And the other thing is if you take everything that's ever been done and you put it into a blender and you turn it into a sludge, then you're always only going to get the average...It’s limiting,” concluded the 71-year-old filmmaker.
Fire and Ash, which is the third instalment in the popular Avatar film series, stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Matt Gerald, and Kate Winslet. The sci-fi epic has already earned a Golden Globe nod in the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category.
Varanasi, on the other hand, also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran in a pivotal role. The upcoming action drama, which marks Priyanka’s return to Indian cinema, is expected to hit theatres worldwide in March 2027.