Thirteen years after Avatar’s theatrical release, a second installment, Avatar, the Way of Water, hits theaters on December 14th. “The bar has been set very high since we decided to make this film,” says director James Cameron, speaking to Léa Salamé. “The goal isn’t to top the first avatar, it’s to be profitable, to be able to do the third, fourth, fifth… Yeah, I’m a bit nervous! But I think the film offers the experience we wanted to deliver.”

The Pandora universe appeared to James Cameron in dreams. “I particularly remember a dream when I was in college, I was 19, I woke up and I was drawing and it became the seed of a bigger idea. It was a bioluminescent forest. Over the years I’ve had many dreams about being underwater and seeing amazing life forms.”the filmmaker continues.

“We are not doing enough to protect the climate”

“It’s not a film about aliens on another planet. It’s a film about us. People made this film.”, James Cameron insists. When asked about global warming, he thinks so “We’re not doing enough”. “I think unfortunately we went from a state of denial, where we weren’t ready to deal with it, to a state of acceptance but helplessness. We skipped the middle part, the part where we really fight. We ignored him and said, ‘Oh, we’ve already lost this fight.’ We went from ignorance to defeat.”

James Cameron also mentions children’s relationship to nature. “One of the goals of this film is to evoke that feeling through a fantastic story. It’s awesome. It’s entertainment, but sometimes I think a film can touch the deepest part of our soul and remind us of who we are.”

“Avatar, the way of the water” also raises the question of family. “I thought it was an interesting journey to see the family uprooted, I wanted to be a storyteller, tensioning the family to create conflict within them.”