“Avatar” made lots of money. The “Avatar” sequels will make lots and lots of money. Fox likes money, so no surprise they want to keep the James Cameron gravy train rolling.
THR reports that the studio is eyeing “Myth,” a pitch by writer Will Staples as a potential directing/starring/producing vehicle for James Cameron, Sam “I will star in your action film” Worthington and Lorenzo di Bonaventura respectively. While the trade stresses that no one is signed to anything, the simple reason why the script — the details of which are under wraps right now — is drawing heat is because “it’s big, it’s sci-fi, and it’s got lots of action.” We’re pretty sure that’s all Staples had to say in the pitch meeting.
So why so much heat around this Staples dude? His claim to fame is his work on the “Call Of Duty” videogames which we didn’t realize that people played for the storylines — don’t people just blow the shit out of each on multiplayer with that? Anyway, he’s also got a couple of unproduced screenplays under his belt including “Apaches” and “World’s Most Wanted” — but we can’t imagine they are any more “sophisticated” than telling the characters in “Lair” or “Pursuit Force” what to do.
But the bigger question is, if Cameron signs on, when is he going to make this? 2018? He’s busy with the “Avatar” sequels for the next few years — the third installment arrives in 2015 — and he’s already said that “Battle Angel” is still on his plate, but isn’t something he’ll get to until he’s done with those films. As the trade cautions, “the project is in the early gestation stage and that the talent involved could change” so don’t be surprised if no one signs to this. If anything, this might be a play to get attention from other big name filmmakers/producers who seeing that Cameron and co. “don’t have time” will try and swoop in to get it made themselves.
Moreover, Cameron is now at the point where he can indulge heavily in projects that are much more personal and taking on someone else’s script seems like an odd move at this point. Could he wind up taking a producer credit? Yeah, we could see that but actually directing? We’d be surprised. But Worthington starring seems to make sense as he signs on to a new project pretty much every month as he tries desperately to prove he is more than “that guy from ‘Avatar.'”