Marc Maron Reveals What His 'Avatar 2' Audition For James Cameron Was Like

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water will be available from all major digital retailers including Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu and Movies Anywhere on March 28.

J. Kim Murphy “The Way of Water” has no beginning and no end — even in your living room! James Cameron’s long awaited “Avatar” sequel has finally set a digital platform release date. The sci-fi epic will be available to purchase on March 28, setting course for Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu and Movies Anywhere.

Fandom’s “Oscars According to Fans” survey reports that “Avatar: The Way of Water” takes the Oscar for Best Picture over “Top Gun: Maverick” if it were up to fans.James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel was the favorite of 15 states — such as Washington, Oklahoma, Illinois, New York and Alabama — while Tom Cruise’s equally long-awaited sequel took second place as the top film in 13 states including California, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina and Maine among others.“Elvis” came in third place for fan votes to win Best Picture. Austin Butler’s portrayal of Elvis was the fan favorite of 9 states including Arizona, Mew Mexico, Minnesota and more, with 36% of voters picking him to win the Oscar for the Best Actor.

Jeremy Fassler Film editor David Brenner, who died in the middle of work on the Oscar-nominated “Avatar: The Way of Water,” never shied away from a challenge. Ahead of the American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards, directors Zack Snyder and James Cameron remembered Brenner and his celebrated career. Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Brenner worked alongside some of the most technically demanding directors in Hollywood, from Oliver Stone to Cameron. But whether he was editing an alien invasion in “Independence Day” or a Vietnam veteran leading an antiwar protest in “Born on the Fourth of July” (for which he won an Academy Award), he always found the humanity of his subjects.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While they come from different worlds, “Avatar” director James Cameron and “Murina” helmer Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović bonded over their shared passion for filmmaking during a video interview (see below) hosted by Disney+ ahead of the Independent Spirit Awards. “Murina” was released in the U.S. by Kino Lorber and is is vying for three Spirit Awards — first film, breakthrough performance and cinematography. It world premiered at Cannes where it won the Camera d’Or and went on to win a Gotham award for its young star Gracija Filipović. The film is set on a remote island along Croatia’s Adriatic coast where 17-year-old Julija spends her days diving for eel, longing to free herself from her domineering father, Ante. When a rich and mysterious guest, Javier, comes visiting, he seems to offer a way out for Julija. But Javier’s presence sets off a battle of masculine ego that pushes Ante to humiliate and control his daughter even more.

Daron James Along with its record setting box office numbers and four Oscar nominations, “Avatar: The Way of Water” brings a “Metkayina” wave of impressive next-gen technology that will undeniably set new industry standards in motion capture, animation and underwater photography.  The original facial motion capture rig that also impressively immersed Andy Serkis as Gollum and Caesar, received an overhaul. Not only physically but also in the way the software replicates a performance.  “We looked at how the muscles in the face, eyes and lips are all related and created a neural network that maps all the connections between them,” says senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri. “This gave us this sympathetic motion in the actor’s face which allowed us to translate the performance to the character and make each frame more believable.” 

Tim Gray Senior Vice President “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a sequel, but the VFX team had a mandate far beyond supplying “more of the same.” The follow-up to the 2009 original “Avatar” had many new demands — and these jaw-dropping innovations have helped make the film one of the top box-office films of all time. Joe Letteri, heading up his team at Weta FX, tells Variety, “We were working on this film since the last one finished, identifying what we could do better. Then there was a big burst of research-and-development” about six years ago, when writer-director James Cameron delivered the scripts for this and three more sequels; that’s when they realized the full scope of the film, which takes place in water about 60% of the time.

Welcome back to my very irregularly scheduled podcast Deep Focus, where I, Playlist.net Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez, talk long or long-ish with different filmmakers, directors, writers, and actors. Today, my guest is none other than comedian/actor and podcaster extraordinaire Marc Maron.

No surprise here: “Avatar: The Way Of Water” continues to surge ahead commercially. Variety reports that James Cameron‘s blockbuster moved past the director “Tiantic” on the highest-grossing movies of all time list to #3 over the weekend.

James Cameron truly is king of the box office.

No surprise here: “Avatar: The Way Of Water” continues to surge ahead commercially. Variety reports that James Cameron‘s blockbuster moved past the director “Tiantic” on the highest-grossing movies of all time list to #3 over the weekend.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Disney’s box office domination has started early in 2023. Six weeks into the new year, the studio has already cleared $1 billion globally, with ticket sales at $1.283 billion to date. It can take other major studios up to 12 months to hit that benchmark. Thanks to the combined turnout for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and the international re-release of “Titanic,” Disney’s 2023 box office tally stands at $383 domestically and $900 million internationally. James Cameron’s enduring “Avatar” sequel is the main reason that Disney has surpassed $1 billion faster than its rivals. Over the weekend, “The Way of Water” reached a staggering $2.2433 billion worldwide, enough to overtake “Titanic” ($2.2428 billion) as the third-highest grossing movie of all time. Also during the President’s Day holiday frame, the third “Ant-Man” adventure opened across the globe, performing above expectations with $225 million worldwide.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” Disney/20th Century’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has reached one last box office milestone in its tenth weekend in theaters by passing the lifetime gross of “Titanic” with a global total of $2.24 billion. This means that the Best Picture Oscar-nominated sequel sits only behind the first “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” in third on the all-time global box office list before inflation adjustment.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter James Cameron’s blockbuster epic “Titanic” has relinquished its spot as the third-highest grossing movie in history to another James Cameron blockbuster epic, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The sci-fi sequel has generated $2.2433 billion globally, enough to overtake “Titanic” with $2.2428 billion at the worldwide box office. Now, “The Way of Water” trails only “Avatar” ($2.92 billion) and “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.7 billion) on all-time box office charts. Cameron, the sole filmmaker with three movies to gross $2 billion or more, has directed the first, third and fourth biggest releases ever. Like the original “Avatar,” the follow-up’s success is attributed to its generation-spanning appeal as well as the incentive to watch the film in premium and 3D formats. On Imax screens, the movie has crossed $250 million. That’s more coinage than many films manage to earn in their entire theatrical runs.

Marc Maron wasn’t fond of his “Avatar” audition.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the 21st Annual VES Awards with nine wins, including for photoreal feature. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” was named best animated feature and took home three awards total. On the TV side, Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” won three awards and was named best photoreal episode. Rian Johnson, Domee Shi, Tig Notaro, Jay Pharoah, Tyler Posey and Randall Park were among the presenters for the night. James Cameron presented the VES Lifetime Achievement award to acclaimed producer Gale Anne Hurd. Former VES executive director Eric Roth received the Board of Directors Award from the current board, which includes Lisa Cooke, current VES Chair; Jim Morris, VES, president of Pixar Animation and founding VES Chair; and former Chairs Jeffrey A. Okun, VES; Mike Chambers, VES; Carl Rosendahl, VES; and Jeff Barnes.

Zack Sharf “Avatar: The Way of Water” introduces Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, a marine biologist working for the villainous Resources Development Administration. It turns out that role could’ve gone to none other than Marc Maron, had the actor and beloved podcast host’s audition not been completely “ridiculous.” Maron opened up on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast about his short-lived “Avatar” journey. “That was ridiculous. Why the fuck would I want that job?” Maron said looking back. “There’s this assumption that we’re going to do four ‘Avatar’ movies. Dude, I don’t even remember the first one! I don’t know what this all means to the world. [James Cameron] built this city down there [at his Long Beach studio]. There’s people doing acrobatics down there, people flying…it’s like Cirque du Soleil down there.”

K.J. Yossman “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” star Jamie Flatters looks unrecognizable in stills from his upcoming indie feature “Black Dog,” revealed here exclusively by Variety. Shedding his blue CG ensemble, Flatters, who plays Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington’s eldest Na’avi son in James Cameron’s billion-dollar smash, reverts to type in “Black Dog” as a London teenager taking a road trip up North. Flatters co-wrote the British indie feature with his friend George Jaques (“The Serpent Queen”), who will also direct. “Black Dog” represents both Flatters and Jaques’ feature screenwriting debut.

Top 10 Highest Paid Entertainers of 2022, thanks to the majority sale of his production company Plan B in December. According to Forbes, the actor/producer earned $113 million after all fees were paid and also earned $30 million from acting roles in “Bullet Train,” “Babylon” and “The Lost City.” Through Plan B, Pitt has produced Oscar-winning films “Moonlight,” “12 Years A Slave” and “The Departed.” Pitt, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” also took home a Best Picture statuette for “12 Years a Slave.” He was outranked by Tyler Perry, who founded his own studio in Atlanta in 2015. Perry raked in $175 million in 2022 and has an estimated $1 billion fortune.The complete top 10 on Forbes’ Highest-Paid Performers of 2022:1.

Marc Maron might be one of the most famous podcasters in the world, but let’s not forget he cut his teeth and made his career in stand-up. His terrific new HBO Original stand-up comedy special “Marc Maron: From Bleak To Dark” debuted this past weekend and is now available to stream on HBO Max.