James Cameron Regretted Writing off Michelle Rodriguez in ‘Avatar’
Actor Michelle Rodriguez made quite an impression on James Cameron when they collaborated for Avatar. So much so that Cameron kicked himself for writing the actor off in the first movie.
How Michelle Rodriguez ended up in ‘Avatar’
Rodriguez had a few notable films to her name by the time Avatar rolled around. She’d gotten her breakthrough role in Girlfight, which eventually led her to more work like Lost and The Fast and The Furious.
In 2009, Rodriguez added Cameron’s Avatar to her growing filmography at the time. It was a film she didn’t have to audition for. The actor simply popped into Cameron’s head when he came up with the Avatar character Trudy.
“According to Jim, a while back he had taken a trip on a chopper in some cold place. I don’t know if it was Antarctica; it was one of his adventure trips, because he goes on adventure trips all the time,” Rodriguez recalled to PR. “On one of his adventure trips there was this female pilot who was flying this chopper. 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. At that point he realized that this would be a great character to incorporate into Avatar and then he thought of me.”
James Cameron regretted writing off Michelle Rodriguez in ‘Avatar’
Rodriguez developed a bad reputation in Hollywood by the time she was cast in Avatar. This made it difficult for her to obtain work. Cameron, however, paid little attention to the rumors surrounding Rodriguez when he cast her. Which Rodriguez was more than grateful for.
“It was really cool of Jim to grab my hand when nobody believed in me,” Rodriguez once said according to CNN. “They thought I was going to be this loser, this party animal, and he just grabbed my hand and pulled me in.”
Cameron explained his reasoning behind casting Rodriguez, confiding that all he cared about was her professionalism while filming Avatar.
“I don’t care about any of that stuff as long as it doesn’t come to my set. I wrote this character [in Avatar] with her in mind, and I was really over the moon when she jumped on board. And I don’t know anybody who came out of the shoot without an abiding affection for who she is as a person,” Cameron said.
He became so enamored with Rodriguez and her character that Cameron even second-guessed disposing her the way he did.
“The character of Trudy has this amazing integrity, and that’s who Michelle is. I mean, I’m kind of kicking myself today that I killed her off,” he said.
Perhaps if Rodriguez’s character survived the first film, she might have stuck around for the film’s sequels.
Michelle Rodriguez revealed that her career might have been saved by James Cameron
Rodriguez saw a shift in her career after appearing in Avatar. Although her reputation had an adverse impact on the amount of work she received, the epic sci-fi feature turned her luck around.
“It wasn’t until [James Cameron] came out and said, ‘I want you to be a part of this project,’ and I said, ‘You do acknowledge that Hollywood thinks I’m crazy.’ And he’s like, ‘You’re not crazy.’ So next thing you know they’re calling me up for Fast and Furious and now Neal Moritz is working with me again, and boom! I’m back in the saddle,” she said.
