Following his recent global box office success, Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron has expressed his desire to return by creating film adaptation of The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, a book by Charles R. Pellegrino, before taking on Avatar 4. The book chronicles the detailed accounts of survivors of the bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
Cameron expressed interest in adapting in 2010, reportedly visiting and interviewing Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only known survivor present during both bombings, in preparation for the film. However, the developing movie was shelved as Cameron dedicated his efforts to the long-awaited Avatar sequels.
The director has sighted his return to the film before moving on to Avatar 4 partly due to its timeliness. “We live in a more precarious world than we thought we did,” Cameron said. “I think the Hiroshima film would be as timely as ever, if not more so. It reminds people what these weapons really do when they’re used against human targets.”
This aligns with Cameron’s position on filmmaking as a creative art. Both Avatar movies – and likely the future sequels – while never explicitly about climate change, make a powerful statement about conservation and the impact of the current epoch of humanity has made on the Earth. “It’s part of our dialogue, part of our discourse to discuss our ideas and problems through our art,” says Cameron. “And movies are part of our art. It’s what drives me to want to make these films.”
Details on the Hiroshima project are scarce, as the film remains in its early stages, with no casting or filming currently announced. Cameron’s commitment hopefully suggests production will begin sometime soon.
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