James Cameron is certainly one of the best directors in Hollywood. He has become the only director with three films in the $2 billion club, Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. While he always seems confident about his movies and his decisions, there are times when he ends up regretting some of those as well. And that seems to be the case for one of his Avatar characters.
The Oscar-winning director wasn’t quite sure what he did with Michelle Rodriguez’s character in the 2009 film and still regrets the decision to end Captain Trudy’s journey in the 2009 film.
James Cameron on Killing Captain Trudy in Avatar (2009)
Michelle Rodriguez did not have the best reputation in Hollywood when James Cameron decided to cast her in his 2009 film, Avatar. While many were avoiding casting a controversial actress, Cameron only paid regard to her acting skills instead of the rumors surrounding her. The 68-year-old director shared that he did not care about her personal issues as long as they didn’t come on the set.
He found her perfect for portraying Captain Trudy Chacon and was glad when she accepted the offer. He said, “I don’t know anybody who came out of the shoot without an abiding affection for who she is as a person.” He was such an admirer of her and her character that he was hesitant to kill her in the first Avatar film, and he still regrets his decision to do the same.
“The character of Trudy has this amazing integrity, and that’s who Michelle [Rodriguez] is. I mean, I’m kind of kicking myself today that I killed her off.”
Although Captain Trudy did not survive the battle of Na’vi against humans, Rodriguez’s career did see an adverse impact after her appearance in Avatar. And she is more than grateful to the Titanic director for turning her luck around. Perhaps if she could have survived in the first film, there might have been possibility fans would have seen her by Jake and Neytiri’s side in the billion-dollar sequel as well.
Why Did James Cameron Cast Michelle Rodriguez in Avatar?
Michelle Rodriguez had a great start as an actress with the 2000 sports drama, Girlfight. After this, she was offered to star in the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious. However, Rodriguez was surprised when she received an offer for a role she didn’t even audition for.
James Cameron met a female pilot during one of his adventure trips, and he was impressed with her skills as a pilot. The Resident Evil actress shared, “I guess she made an [impression] on him because at one point she did this crazy difficult maneuver off of this glacier, and he almost shat his pants.”
He found the female pilot interesting enough to have a character inspired by her in his science fiction film, Avatar. Rodriguez shared that after coming up with the character, James Cameron thought of her and offered her the role.
Although her character did not make it to the sequel, she had the opportunity to work with the Oscar-winning director in the 2019 cyberpunk action film Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron was one of the producers of the film.
Avatar is available to stream on Disney+.
Source: CheatSheet
