James Cameron’s films frequently push the boundaries of visual effects technology, especially the “Avatar” series, where the heroic blue Na’vi characters are brought to life using performance capture.
However, Cameron is not an admirer of generative AI.
In a CBS Sunday Morning interview related to the upcoming release of “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the director admitted that performance capture (where an actor’s acting is recorded as a base for digital artists) might sound like genAI. However, he stated that it is “the opposite.”
“For years, there was this feeling that, ‘Oh, they’re doing something weird with computers, and they’re replacing actors,'” Cameron stated. “When, in fact, when you really investigate and see what we’re doing, it’s a celebration of the actor-director moment.”
The CBS segment, in fact, depicts “Avatar” cast members performing their underwater scenes in a 250,000-gallon water tank.
“Go to the other extreme, and you have generative AI, where they can invent a character, an actor, or a performance from the ground up using a text prompt,” Cameron continued. “No, that’s terrible… That’s precisely what we’re avoiding.”
