James Cameron reveals he cut 'gunplay action' from Avatar sequel to get rid of the 'ugliness'

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High profile director James Cameron revealed he cut "gunplay action" from "Avatar: The Way of Water," and said his past movies were guilty of "[fetishizing] the gun." In an interview with Esquire Middle East, the filmmaker cheered New Zealand for its tough gun control and lamented his use of guns in "Terminator," "Aliens," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and other movies. 

The article described the director as believing "that his films have often been too violent, and the heavy amounts of gun violence that play into films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and True Lies he believes have no place in moral moviemaking" in 2022. 

Cameron recalled, "I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30+ years ago." 

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(Paramount Pictures)

Film critic Christian Toto, who runs the pop culture site Hollywood in Toto, talked to Fox News Digital and lamented this trend of showing regret over past films.

Toto mentioned examples of actor Jonah Hill regretting his 2007 movie "Superbad" isn’t woke enough, that the director of "Love, Actually" was embarrassed because of a lack of diversity. 

Toto called this "virtue signaling 101" and added, "Now, it's Cameron's turn. Except his latest work still features gun violence, and his existing films are steadily watched across the culture via cable and streaming outlets. Would removing them entirely change anything about gun violence or the culture as a whole?" 

The filmmaker and his wife have a farm in New Zealand and saluted the strict gun laws of the country. Unprompted, he told Esquire Middle East: "I’m happy to be living in New Zealand where they just banned all assault rifles two weeks after that horrific mosque shooting a couple of years ago." 

Fans attend a premiere for the film Avatar: The Way of Water, at Dolby theatre in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 12, 2022 and Director James Cameron arrives at the world premiere of 'Avatar: The Way of Water' in London, Britain December 6, 2022.  (REUTERS/Toby Melville/Mario Anzuoni)

Cameron’s new reflection on gun violence impacted "Avatar: The Way of Water." The director said, "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." 

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He conceded, "You have to have conflict, of course. 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." 

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Film critics Kathia Woods attacked the new "Avatar" film as guilty of "cultural appropriation. The film deals with a fictional alien race called the Na’vi. She complained, "At some point we gotta talk about the cultural appropriation of Avatar and white actors are cos playing as poc. It’s just a mess and so not necessary & no amount of visual effects/CGI is gonna erase that." 

James Cameron at premiere of "Avatar: The Way of Water" ( Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney)