James Cameron cuts 10 minutes involving gun violence from Avatar: The Way of Water

James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently running in theatres, and has become a box office success despite its mixed reviews. Speaking about the three-hour long film, the filmmaker revealed that he had cut ten minutes of scenes that involved gun violence.

Mentioning that he is not interested in fetishising guns in scenes involving action, James was quoted as saying, "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. 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."

Referring to the gun violence in the US, James recalled the times he used guns in his films like Terminator and said he does not know if he would want to do that now. "I don't know if I would want to fetishise the gun, like I did on a couple of 'Terminator' movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world. What's happening with guns in our society turns my stomach,” he added.

Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster, is set more than a decade after the story of the first film ends. It follows Jake and Neyitiri as they build their family and battle their past, which seems to be catching up with them. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet.