You probably don’t need to be informed that Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives in cinemas this week (especially since you’ve clicked on an article about James Cameron to get here).
Returning to its creative heart in Aotearoa for its New Zealand premiere this past weekend, writer-director James Cameron was joined by stars Sam Worthington, Cliff Curtis, Jack Champion and Duane Evans, Jr. for the sort of Wellington red carpet excitement not seen since LOTR.
Dominic Corry was in attendance, and joined the director and cast for interviews that you can see on Flicks later this week. Today, though, we focus on a portion of Corry’s conversation with Cameron that nods to the legendary filmmaker’s past—and future.
DOMINIC CORRY: On the recent interview on [Hollywood podcast] The Town, you intimated that you have involvement with a new Terminator project.
JAMES CAMERON: Yeah, I have a deal to develop a new a new Terminator. Basically a whole new, maybe, cycle.
DC: So you still have a lot of passion for that intellectual property?
JC: Yeah I’m a little wary of that assignment right now because things are happening so fast in the real AI world, and I’m a little worried about about driving a stake in the ground and making a comment that might be obsolete in a year or so. I mean, actual artificial intelligence. I’m not talking about generative models and Chat GPT and all that stuff, I’m talking about artificial super intelligence. It’s actually coming our way. It’s a real thing. Skynet will be real in a few years.
DC: Well, you rang the bell [with The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day].
JC: Well, a lot of people did. I mean, I mean Arthur Clarke with HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was deeply steeped in the literature, and so that was nothing new. I can’t take too much credit for that. I did put it in charge of a nuclear weapon system, and that didn’t work out so well for us…
Music to our ears! Well, the new Terminator bit, not the AI-driven nuclear holocaust bit… Stay tuned for more of Corry’s Avatar: Fire and Ash coverage in coming days.
