Friday, January 15, 2010
PROJECT 880: THE AVATAR THAT ALMOST WAS...
I found this very interesting article about the script for James Cameron`s Avatar that I wanted to share with you all.
*PS: SPOILERS*
From Chud.com
This summer I wrote an article about the development process of Terminator Salvation and how it led to a movie that, in the end, didn't go as far as it could have. While I still think Salvation is a more or less okay entry in the franchise - much better than Rise of the Machines - the decisions made along the way still intrigue me. For that column I had access to original scripts and some insider info; when it comes to Avatar I don't have that. All I have is the 114 page scriptment that Cameron wrote after Titanic, a scriptment known at the time as Project 880. This scriptment is very similar to the final movie in broad strokes, but in the details it's quite different. Much has been lost from the original scriptment, and much of what has been kept was abridged. I don't have much behind the scenes info on this - I don't know why Cameron made the changes that he made - but I think a film closer to the original scriptment would have been noticeably different and, in my opinion, much, much better. Some of this would be added depth of the world - a friend who read the scriptment compared it to seeing a Harry Potter movie and then reading the book upon which it was based; all of a sudden things are richer and make more sense - but some of it would have added depth of character and emotion.
I hope you find comparisons of different phases of a movie's life as interesting as I do; I'd like to do more articles like this in the future, tracking the changes that have been made on long-in-development projects.
In the meantime, if you're sick of reading about Avatar or any of my thoughts on Avatar, please feel free to skip this article. Comments complaining about another Avatar article will be immediately deleted.
For those who don't want to read this all, some bullet points. Read the entire piece for in-depth description and analysis, but these bullet points are the main, stark differences between Project 880 and Avatar:
- Earth and its environmental problems are explored
- We see Josh Sully's Avatar being born
- It's revealed the Avatar program exists to train Na'vi to be an indigenous workforce for the Corporation, since it's so expensive to send human workers
- There are more humans, including a bioethics officer on the take, a video journalist, a head of the Avatar program and a second military dickwad
- There is an Avatar controller who is burnt out because his Avatar died with him in it. He committed Avatar suicide because he had fallen in love with a Na'vi girl who had been killed by the military
- The Avatars have a Na'vi guide named N'Deh, who is sleeping with Grace
- Grace survives the soul transfer
- Josh Sully gains the Na'vi trust by being a member of the community. He also excels in a major hunt
- Josh Sully shows his leadership not by taming a dragon but by leading a raid on Hell's Gate to rescue prisoners
- Josh Sully isn't the only Na'vi to ride a big dragon
- Pandora is a living entity and it sees the humans as a virus; it has been mobilizing the plants and animals to attack all along because it wanted to force the humans out
- There is no unobtainium beneath Hometree. The military just wants to wipe out the local Na'vi to send a message to all the tribes that they must be obeyed.
- Some of the humans and the Avatar controllers rise up in the final big battle
- Josh Sully tells the Earth that Pandora will give any humans that return a disease that will wipe out humanity
Read the whole thing here:
"Project 880" is more Cameron then "Avatar" finally became in my opinion. Its way more layered and give much more to delve on then "the heroes journey" that is now. Its also more dark and heavy. I totally get why they went with a more "light" script. This movie cost a fortune to make and this must be covered box office wise so its understandable. Pluss had they gone ahead with 880 then then the movie would have been at least 5 hours long =P
Ohh well at least they are in the processes of making the sequel AVATAR 2.. because I do think that we all want to see more of this magnificent universe
*PS: SPOILERS*
From Chud.com
This summer I wrote an article about the development process of Terminator Salvation and how it led to a movie that, in the end, didn't go as far as it could have. While I still think Salvation is a more or less okay entry in the franchise - much better than Rise of the Machines - the decisions made along the way still intrigue me. For that column I had access to original scripts and some insider info; when it comes to Avatar I don't have that. All I have is the 114 page scriptment that Cameron wrote after Titanic, a scriptment known at the time as Project 880. This scriptment is very similar to the final movie in broad strokes, but in the details it's quite different. Much has been lost from the original scriptment, and much of what has been kept was abridged. I don't have much behind the scenes info on this - I don't know why Cameron made the changes that he made - but I think a film closer to the original scriptment would have been noticeably different and, in my opinion, much, much better. Some of this would be added depth of the world - a friend who read the scriptment compared it to seeing a Harry Potter movie and then reading the book upon which it was based; all of a sudden things are richer and make more sense - but some of it would have added depth of character and emotion.
I hope you find comparisons of different phases of a movie's life as interesting as I do; I'd like to do more articles like this in the future, tracking the changes that have been made on long-in-development projects.
In the meantime, if you're sick of reading about Avatar or any of my thoughts on Avatar, please feel free to skip this article. Comments complaining about another Avatar article will be immediately deleted.
For those who don't want to read this all, some bullet points. Read the entire piece for in-depth description and analysis, but these bullet points are the main, stark differences between Project 880 and Avatar:
- Earth and its environmental problems are explored
- We see Josh Sully's Avatar being born
- It's revealed the Avatar program exists to train Na'vi to be an indigenous workforce for the Corporation, since it's so expensive to send human workers
- There are more humans, including a bioethics officer on the take, a video journalist, a head of the Avatar program and a second military dickwad
- There is an Avatar controller who is burnt out because his Avatar died with him in it. He committed Avatar suicide because he had fallen in love with a Na'vi girl who had been killed by the military
- The Avatars have a Na'vi guide named N'Deh, who is sleeping with Grace
- Grace survives the soul transfer
- Josh Sully gains the Na'vi trust by being a member of the community. He also excels in a major hunt
- Josh Sully shows his leadership not by taming a dragon but by leading a raid on Hell's Gate to rescue prisoners
- Josh Sully isn't the only Na'vi to ride a big dragon
- Pandora is a living entity and it sees the humans as a virus; it has been mobilizing the plants and animals to attack all along because it wanted to force the humans out
- There is no unobtainium beneath Hometree. The military just wants to wipe out the local Na'vi to send a message to all the tribes that they must be obeyed.
- Some of the humans and the Avatar controllers rise up in the final big battle
- Josh Sully tells the Earth that Pandora will give any humans that return a disease that will wipe out humanity
Read the whole thing here:
"Project 880" is more Cameron then "Avatar" finally became in my opinion. Its way more layered and give much more to delve on then "the heroes journey" that is now. Its also more dark and heavy. I totally get why they went with a more "light" script. This movie cost a fortune to make and this must be covered box office wise so its understandable. Pluss had they gone ahead with 880 then then the movie would have been at least 5 hours long =P
Ohh well at least they are in the processes of making the sequel AVATAR 2.. because I do think that we all want to see more of this magnificent universe
Labels: movie news, other
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