James Cameron’s Wife ‘Bawled For Four Hours’ After Watching Avatar: Fire And Ash

James Cameron knows how to push emotional buttons. Titanic is, once the iceberg hits, an unabashed weepie. The lava thumbs-up at the end of Terminator 2 will have the hardest hearts melted down to scrap. And Avatar and Avatar 2 are packed with devastating moments, from the destruction of Hometree, to the death – spoiler alert! – of Jake and Neytiri’s eldest son Neteyam in the sequel. But by the sounds of it, the third Avatar movie – the upcoming Fire And Ash – might be the most emotional of the bunch, even when viewed in unfinished form.

Case in point: Cameron’s own wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, saw a version of the film from late last year, and – per her filmmaker husband – was completely overwhelmed with emotion. “My wife watched the whole thing from end to end — she had kept herself away from it and I wasn’t showing her bits and pieces as we went along. This was December 22nd,” Cameron recalls. The reaction? “She bawled for four hours.” The director couldn’t even get precise feedback from her. “She kept trying to get her shit back together so she could tell me specific reactions, and then she’d just tear up and start crying again. Finally, I’m like, ‘Honey, I’ve got to go to bed. Sorry, we’ll talk about it some other time’,” he laughs.

While Suzy has a closer relationship to the Avatar story than most, Cameron is confident that her reaction will be echoed by audience members when they see Fire And Ash at the end of 2025. “She’s a pretty good bellwether,” he notes. “She called the ball on Titanic and Avatar and Avatar 2. So I trust her heart on it.” Prepare to cry so many tears, Payakan could swim around in them.

Read Empire’s full interview with James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver – on the writing process for Avatar: Fire And Ash – in the Thunderbolts* issue, on sale Thursday 13 March. Pre-order a copy online here. The Path To Pandora continues every month in Empire – subscribe here to get the magazine every month and hear the latest Na’vi news. Avatar: Fire And Ash comes to UK cinemas from 19 December.