An Avatar visual effects artist recalls the harsh working conditions he experienced under director James Cameron. Released in 2009, Avatar would go on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. The film tells the story of marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who joins forces with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and the native inhabitants of an alien moon called Pandora to fight off a group of human invaders. Avatar's impressive box-office performance and acclaim from audiences and critics led to a number of sequels getting the green light, the first of which, Avatar: The Way of Water, is due out later this year.
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Avatar received widespread praise for its impressive visual effects upon release. The film utilized state-of-the-art cameras and CGI to bring Pandora and its inhabitants to life. Throughout the film, audiences are introduced not only to the Na'vi, Pandora's tall, blue aliens, but also to a host of flora and fauna that boast vibrant colors and intricate designs. Avatar was recently re-released in theaters ahead of the premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water, featuring stunning visuals that have been remastered in 4K. Despite being 13 years old, Avatar won the weekend box office by pulling in over $31 million globally.
With Avatar once again making headlines due to its re-release, VFX artist Nick Sinnott has taken to Twitter to highlight the harsh working conditions he experienced under Cameron on the film. In a since-deleted string of tweets, Sinnott reveals his VFX department wasn't unionized during work on the film, which he says allowed Cameron to "exploit" them for "endless unpaid revisions." Sinnott goes on to explain that he's not barred from sharing his experiences on Avatar because the VFX company he worked for is no longer operating. Check out screenshots of Sinnott's tweets below:
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Will The Avatar Sequels Have This Same Problem?
In recent years, the harsh working conditions many VFX artists in Hollywood experience have come under increased scrutiny. It's been well-documented, at this point, that due to the competitive nature of how VFX firms are hired by blockbuster productions like Avatar, the artists themselves on films are expected to work extremely long work hours to deliver repeated changes to VFX scenes. On a film like Avatar, which features countless scenes that are entirely CGI, this evidently led to an unhealthy working environment, which Sinnott clearly blames Cameron for.
Avatar: The Way of Water is expected to push the limits of CGI even further, with Cameron working with companies to develop new technology to make the film. Filming on Avatar 3 is now complete, and with two additional installments supposedly on the way, it's unclear if these productions will suffer from the same problems that Sinnott describes. Although it's been 13 years since the release of the original Avatar, harsh work environments for VFX artists still, unfortunately, seem to be quite common. With Cameron's push to enhance filming technology on his Avatar sequels, an effort from the director to improve the working conditions for VFX artists working on his films would likely go a long way.