James Cameron’s ‘Dances with Avatar’

In the video below [click to play], Oscar-winning director James Cameron spills some of the story beats for his long-in-production (four years) “Avatar,” which finally hits theatres this December 18th.  

He wrote the script fourteen years ago, before the technology was available to film it, spent nine years developing the cameras, and is now shooting live action in “Stereoscopic 3D.” Cameron’s shown bits of the film to friends and says they describe the experience as completely immersive, a “dream state … dreaming with your eyes wide open.”

Sounds like an amazing experience awaits.  The story, however, sounds awfully familiar:  Most of the action is set in the 22nd Century in the Alpha Centauri star system on a large Earth-like moon called Pandora … … (sorry, had to let a flash of Nerd Panic pass) … filled with lush rain forests and exotic creatures. A humanoid race, the Na’vi, inhabit the planet. They’re ten feet tall, striped like tigers and sport large tails. They’re also primitive, using bow and arrows to hunt. (more…)