‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Director James Cameron Claims “[Testosterone] Is A Toxin That You Have To Slowly Work Out Of Your System”

John F. Trent |

Nov 30, 2022

Director James Cameron behind the scenes of 20th Century Studios' AVATAR 2. Photo by Mark Fellman. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

James Cameron, the director of the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water film, claimed that “[testosterone] is a toxin that you have to slowly work out of your system.”

In a wide-ranging article from The Hollywood Reporter spotlighting Cameron and the film, which ironically doesn’t get into many of the details of the film, Cameron discussed his working relationship with The Walt Disney Company, who is producing and distributing the film after they purchased 20th Century Fox.

Cameron noted he hasn’t had any big clashes with any of the Disney executives, “Maybe it’s still a honeymoon phase. I don’t know. We’ll see. If the movie doesn’t make money, then, maybe, the honeymoon’s over.”

The director would then contrast it with his previous interactions with executives at 20th Century Fox from previous films that he now claims that he would not do given his age, “A lot of things I did earlier, I wouldn’t do — career-wise and just risks that you take as a wild, testosterone-poisoned young man.”

He then added, “I always think of [testosterone] as a toxin that you have to slowly work out of your system.”

Testosterone is not a toxin that you need to work out of your system, instead as noted by the Mayo Clinic it “plays an important role in the development and maintenance of typical masculine physical characteristics, such as muscle mass and strength, and growth of facial and body hair.”

Cameron’s idea about testosterone might also be bleeding into the Avatar: The Way of Water film. What little Cameron did talk about the film with The Hollywood Reporter he revealed it will seemingly feature an “asshole dad.”

He told the outlet, “I thought, ‘I’m going to work out a lot of my stuff, artistically, that I’ve gone through as a parent of five kids.”

“The overarching idea is, the family is the fortress. It’s our greatest weakness and our greatest strength. I thought, ‘I can write the hell out of this. I know what it is to be the asshole dad,'” he added.

This description of the movie contrasts a little bit with what actor Sam Worthington, who plays Jake Sully, had to say back in September.

Speaking with Reuters, Worthington said, “This love story has evolved. We now have a family and to be honest, to me, the movie is about protecting your family.”

“Whether that’s an immediate family, it works on many levels. It could be a communal family, the family that we choose,” he elaborated.

Cameron previously told the Associated Press that the climate and the health of the planet was on his mind while making the film and its sequels.

He said, “Very much so, even to the extent that I very strongly debated with myself and discussed with my wife whether I should stop filmmaking and work on the sustainability issues. But we managed to be able to do that in parallel with the filmmaking process. We’re doing all of our sustainability efforts – I don’t want to say as a side hustle, but in parallel. I put as much effort into that as I do the filmmaking.”

Cameron went on to state, “That said, the new Avatar films aren’t any more like a lecture on climate or environmentalism than the first one was.”

“The first one was an adventure. It captured you at the level of character, at a level of storytelling. I think subtext is a useful way of looking at it. It’s there but it’s not what’s driving the story. And we kept that in mind with the new films,” he elaborated.

He then revealed, “Yes, Avatar: The Way of Water is about the oceans and our relationship with the oceans and the animals that live in it. But it’s driven by character.”