James Cameron is all about testing boundaries, whether it’s the realism of CGI technology or the limits of the human bladder. But he understands that some people don’t feel the same, and in a new interview with Empire magazine (via Variety), he gave people who see Avatar: The Way of Water permission to use the bathroom partway through, saying, “Get up and go pee.”
The Way of Water is “currently coming in at around three hours,” after the 2009 original clocked in at two hours and 45 minutes. As Cameron explained, that’s your problem, not his, and he expects you to deal with it like a grownup capable of using a toilet.
“I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours,” he said. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a fucking break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: It’s okay to get up and go pee.”
Cameron has also been paying attention to internet trolls shitting on Avatar, which remains the highest-grossing film of all time. “The trolls will have it that nobody gives a shit and they can’t remember the characters’ names or one damn thing that happened in the movie,” he explained. “Then they see the movie again and go, ‘Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the fuck up right now.’ So I’m not worried about that.”
Finally, the Oscar-winning director gave an update on the third film in the franchise, which he said is finished and “in the can,” and added that if movies four and five get greenlighted, he may not direct them himself.
“The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming,” he said. “I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting… I think eventually over time – I don’t know if that’s after three or after four – I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”
After all, he’s invested a lot of energy in the films because he loves the story. “I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces. Three is in the can so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately.”
In May, Cameron unveiled the official teaser trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water. The movie arrives internationally on December 14th before coming to the US on the 16th. Avatar 3 is scheduled to drop into theaters on December 20th, 2024, followed by Avatar 4 on December 18th, 2026, and Avatar 5 on December 22nd, 2028.
