James Cameron recently sat down for an interview to discuss the future of the Avatar franchise amid the release of its third instalment. As he spoke about the film and whether fans will actually get to see Avatar 4, Cameron also shared anecdotes from the sets of his past films. One interesting incident involved an unconscious rat from one of his sets, which he performed CPR on.
James Cameron once performed CPR on his now-pet
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, James Cameron revealed an incident on the set of his 1989 film The Abyss. The film, which used oxygenated water technology for filming underwater scenes, used a rat to demonstrate how it works. However, when the rat drowned during the demonstration, Cameron performed CPR on it. After saving his film from losing the “No Animals Were Harmed” certification, the filmmaker decided to adopt “Beanie” as his pet.
“Beanie and I bonded over the whole thing,” he shared. “I saved his life. We were brothers. He used to sit on my desk while I was writing Terminator 2, and he lived to a ripe old age. He didn’t seem particularly traumatized, though I know the film is outlawed in the U.K. because of ‘animal cruelty.”
Further in the interview, the 71-year-old also revealed to whom he dedicates Avatar: Fire and Ash. After the passing of his producing partner, Jon Landau, last year, Cameron shared how he caught himself cc’ing Landau on an email. Putting his realization into words, he said, “It’s like I’ve got nobody left to be proud of me, or to judge me if I fuck up. There’s an absence there, and there’s no way to fill it.”
Further, the Academy Award winner mentioned, “Ironically, Fire and Ash itself is about loss and grief and picking up and going on and how you find hope and how you find the bonds that keep you moving forward in life. It’s all in the movie.”
