Joel David Moore Discusses James Cameron's Avatar
Best known for the comedy movies Dodgeball and Grandma's Boy, Joel David Moore ventured into directing with the independent film Spiral which should hit theaters in early 2008. Moore not only co-directed the film with Adam Green (Hatchet) but also wrote the screenplay, served as an executive producer and played the lead role. After helming his own project and handling so many different jobs, signing on to the cast of James Cameron’s Avatar (Cameron’s first movie since Titanic) was not only a no-brainer, but also a chance for the budding director to learn from the man who helmed one of Hollywood’s all-time biggest blockbusters.
Cameron’s close-lipped about Avatar and so is Moore who, in this interview, was very careful about what he could disclose while trying to answer questions as helpfully as possible.
After writing, directing and working on films with much smaller budgets, how does it feel to transition to James Cameron’s Avatar? Is it a whole different mindset?
“It is.
It’s funny, when I met with James, I had just we had just finished post. I had just gotten through the editing process and we took Spiral to the Santa Barbara Film Festival and we won the Festival. It was one of the first things we talked about because James is honestly the hardest working person that I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s so dedicated to everything that he does. And I get lucky, working with guys like Adam Green and Jim Cameron is pretty cool because I enjoy the process a lot more when the person is working harder than I am, when the director or creator is working harder than I am. If they’re not, it just takes something away from it.
I want that person who has a vision, who my acting and my face and everything, my name is in their hands as far as the way this turns out - I want that person to be committed and passionate and work hard, and make sure that they cover all the bases. So it was one of the first conversations we had was actually about directing. We sat down for hours and talked about directing. I think it’s kind of what brought us together on me trying to get this damn job (laughing).”
And what are you allowed to say about this job?
“It’s myself and Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington are scientists of sorts that go to - and Sam actually plays more of a Marine, but he was put in the position to come with us on this journey. We trek to another land to sort of study them and assimilate ourselves into their society. So it’s really politically relevant. It’s a beautiful film that has so much to say about life and about our existence and humanity and humanoid life altogether, whether or not it exists on another planet at all. It’s something that Jim is really, I think, fond of and interested in.
It seems like, I think, to the outsider it seems like a sci-fi project because it’s 3-D, it’s this epic. It’s James Cameron, it’s this epic movie that’s going on and it’s very hush-hush, but it’s really more than just a sci-fi project. I don’t want to turn the sci-fi fans down, it definitely is sci-fi, but it’s more than that. It’s a piece of art. When I read the script, outside of Titanic, outside of his history, he’s done a lot of sci-fi stuff so I really thought, ‘Okay, this is cool. It’s a $200,000,000 movie; it’s awesome. I’m getting to work with the biggest director, if not the top three or four directors in Hollywood, and so it doesn’t really matter what the script is going to be like,’ but I was shocked.
I literally, I maybe tear up a couple of times, it’s really a beautiful story about these people who are going to this other land and researching and getting involved in this other world, and this just says so much about life. I’m sorry to be vague about it, but I do want to pump up the side that this is something that’s been floating around in his mind for 10 years. He wrote it 10 years ago. I think it’s something he really wanted to see come to fruition, as well. He kind of had to wait for technology to catch up to him to be able to shoot this. It’s 3-D and there’s certain motion capture stuff that he couldn’t have been able to do when he wrote it or when he devised the concept.
The relationship’s in it, my girlfriend in the movie is Michelle Rodriguez. It’s funny. We’re shooting in L.A. for five months and then we go to New Zealand for a couple months. I haven’t even met Michelle yet because we shoot that stuff, her stuff, her side of it over there. We’ve been shooting me, Sigourney, Sam, Zoe Saldana, Laz Alonso… You couldn’t have asked for a better cast. CCH Pounder and Wes Studi play the father and mother roles, and everybody is just so passionate and dedicated to it. It’s so different. If you talk to somebody like CC or Wes who have done nameless amount of movies, and even for them this is something really fresh and new. It’s something that we can first of all, it’s going to be a mark in history. This is going to change moviemaking just because of what it is, and they know that.”
Because of the technology?
“Because of technology, yeah. I want to say because of story as well, but that will be up to the viewer, but definitely because of technology. The biggest hitters in Hollywood have been down to the set just looking and watching and studying what they’re doing.”
So this really has been a filmmaking course for you?
“It is, and Jim is so great with me on that side because he obviously believes in me and believes in me to put me in this role, but it’s very coherent that he is, the way that he deals with me, knowing that I’m a director, sort of allowing me to watch specific things happen and go back and watch footage that he’s put together. I think that he is very aware of what he’s doing and I really appreciate that.”
Do you plan on directing again?
“Yeah, we’re putting together a couple different projects. It’s tough because availability is becoming harder, especially if this movie makes money then we’re going to go and do a sequel, fingers crossed.”
Are you signed on for a sequel?
“I can’t say. I mean, people know that there’s been talks of a sequel already so that’s already out there. I would love any opportunity to work with him again, so if that is the way that the Avatar creation goes, then that’s the way that I want to go.”
