James Cameron has an Oscar to his name, is the director of some of the biggest blockbusters of all time and made 3D a viable format, but not even the auteur has control over people's bladders.
With the new 'Avatar' movie in cinemas this Christmas, Cameron has warned cinema-goers now that they will need to go to the bathroom during the film, which has a run-time of over 3 hours.
Cameron has given cinema-goers a fair warning, and said "I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch television for eight hours."
"I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonisingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a f**ing break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row," he told Empire magzine.
"Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”
The famously mercurial filmmaker also had some choice words for people who claim the first 'Avatar' film had no lasting cultural impact.
“The trolls will have it that nobody gives a s**t and they can’t remember the characters’ names or one damn thing that happened in the movie,” Cameron said.
"Then they see the movie again and go, ‘Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the f**k up right now.’ So I’m not worried about that."
A sequel to 'Avatar' has long been in the works, with the original smashing box office records back in 2009 and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.
The sequel has long been delayed as per Cameron, he wanted the technology to catch up to his imagination.
Clips from the sequel, subtitled 'The Way Of Water', shows Cameron returning to his obsession of water, and certain sequences in the film are shot in a high frame-rate meaning that the film will look as lifelike as possible.
Water is a major theme of Cameron's films, with the likes of 'The Abyss', 'Titanic', and even 'Aliens' prominently featuring water.
Fellow Oscar winner Ang Lee experimented with high frame-rate in the 2010s with his film's 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' and the 2019 action film 'Gemini Man' shot and projected at a higher frame rate than traditional films.
With the failure of Lee's films at the box office, Cameron is confident he can be the filmmaker that can make HFR cinema a viable art form.
The 'Avatar' sequel won't be entirely projected entirely at a high frame rate, with only certain sequences shot in the format.
As for the future of the 'Avatar' franchise, Cameron admits that he may not direct the 4th or 5th installments of the films, calling them "all-consuming."
Cameron is reuniting with his 'Titanic' leading lady Kate Winslet for the film, who told reporters last year she held her breath underwater for 7-and-a-half minutes to film a sequence for the sci-fi flick.
Audiences have been given ample notice to clear their bladders - 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' hits Irish cinemas on December 16th.
