James Cameron says he cut footage including firearms from new ‘Avatar,’ regrets past use

Director James Cameron said in an interview that he cut 10 minutes of scenes showing the use of firearms in the latest installment of the wildly popular “Avatar” film series, adding that he regrets past use of firearms in his films. 

In an interview with Esquire Middle East, Cameron, who won three Academy Awards for his 1997 film “Titanic,” told the publication about the regret he has with the use of firearms in his films, adding that he cut out 10 minutes from his new film, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” to shift toward his new approach. 

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” the sequel to the popular 2009 “Avatar” film, was released on Dec. 16.

“I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action. I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course,” Cameron told Esquire Middle East.  

“Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker,” he added. 

Cameron also said that he wouldn’t direct some of his previous films due to the nature of the violence and use of firearms in them, adding that the current use of firearms in today’s society turns his stomach. 

“I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now,” Cameron said in the interview.  “I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of ‘Terminator’ movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world.” 

“What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach,” Cameron concluded. 

Cameron’s remarks come after the U.S. has seen a recent wave of mass shootings in the past year, including incidents in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y.; Highland Park, Ill.; and Colorado Springs, Colo. 

In the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, lawmakers wrote and passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major legislation to address gun violence in nearly 30 years. President Biden signed the act into law earlier this year.