‘I miss our daily interactions’: James Cameron pays tribute to the man without whom Avatar might never have existed

John Landau, the producer behind some of the biggest hits in American cinema, from Titanic to Avatar and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, died on Friday at the age of 63. Today, his long-time collaborator James Cameron pays tribute to him The Hollywood Reporter.

She and James Cameron met on the set of True Lies, when Landau was supervising Twentieth Century Fox. The experience was compelling, and when he formed his own production company, the director immediately hired Landau, who then left Fox, to accompany him on the Titanic adventure.

They’ve been together for 31 years, with both men producing two Avatar films, as well as Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel and Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris.

We battled the pandemic together to publish Avatar: The Way of Water. Together we believed that we could overcome all obstacles. But we cannot solve the fragility of life itself. I am grateful for every year, every day and every minute we spent together.

John Landau died at the age of 63 after a 16-month battle with cancer. Cameron continues to pay tribute to his late producer:

“He was my right hand and I was his.” In recent years we have become a trapeze act… total interdependence, total trust, total synchronization. We became not only very close work colleagues, but also very close friends.

The last message I sent her was that I loved her but missed our daily conversations. It was sometimes 20 times a day, often in his office, strategically placed between me and the set. to address concerns. John had the power to tell me when I was wrong, and over time I learned he was right.”