Avatar 2 director James Cameron has thrown shade at Aquaman for its CG-heavy underwater scenes.
The filmmaker will soon release Avatar: The Way of Water, a sequel to his 2009 blockbuster Avatar.
For the film, Cameron went to extreme lengths to depict extended sequences that take place in the sea..
As was previously noted by writer-director Liam O’Donnell, the process included the usage of 15 cameras, two of which were focused on every actor’s face, as well the use of underwater performance capture and “infrared depth capture to place CG characters in live-action footage”.
The film’s cast, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet, and crew members were trained to breathe for two to three minutes underwater in order to shoot their scenes.
In a new interview, when asked about why he went to such lengths while making The Way of Water as opposed to merely using CG like Aquaman and Disney’s forthcoming live-action reboot of The Little Mermaid, Cameron bluntly replied: “Oh, I don’t know, maybe that it looks good?”
He continued to The New York Times: “Come on! You want it to look like the people are underwater, so they need to be underwater. It’s not some gigantic leap – if you were making a western, you’d be out learning how to ride a horse.
“I knew Sam was a surfer, but Sig and Zoe and the others weren’t particularly ocean-oriented folks. So, I was very specific about what would be required, and we got the world’s best breath-hold specialists to talk them through it.
Elsehwere, Cameron criticised Marvel and DC characters for always acting “like they’re in college”.
Avatar: The Way of Water will be released on 16 December.
