Spoiler Alert on “Avatar” & More: This article features quotes from Michelle Rodriguez when she talks about movies where she died and eventually returned. Even if the affected movies are ten years old or older, you will be warned…
Sam Worthington, of course, returns as Jake Sully, as does Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, in Avatar: The Way Of Water, which you can now finally grab in front of your house. But there are also a few surprises among the many other returnees – including some people who were presumed dead after “Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora”. But James Cameron found a way to bring back, say, Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch’s bruised Na’vi clone. Sigourney Weaver, on the other hand, no longer appears as Dr. Grace Augustine, but as Kiri, the adopted daughter of the Sullys. And there was almost another comeback from an actress whose character died in the first part: Michelle Rodriguez.
Director James Cameron wanted or wants to bring back the 44-year-old and revealed that he regrets killing off her character, the pilot Trudy Chacón, in the first film. As we’ve known since “The Way Of Water” at the latest, the filmmaker would have come up with a semi-plausible solution to bring about her comeback. But the actress didn’t go along with it — for understandable reasons, as she now faces cheated.
“Overkill”: not another (!) return from the dead
Rodriguez recalls a recent meeting with the creators of “Terminator” and “Titanic”, who asked her if he could now revive Trudy Chacón, where “Avatar 2” finally returned other dead. There would definitely be room somewhere to take them down in the upcoming sequels. But Rodriguez replied to the director: “You can’t do that. I died a martyr.”
And that’s not the only reason the Texan turned his back on “Avatar,” as she spoke clarified. She also speaks of an “overkill” that she would have reached at the latest: “I came back in ‘Resident Evil’ which was not planned. I came back in ‘Machete’ which was not planned. I came as ‘Letty’ [in „Fast & Furious“] back, which was not planned. We can’t do this a fourth time!”
While James Cameron probably could have, Rodriguez’s doubts make sense. Because the more movie deaths they have to declare, which are then declared invalid, the more likely it is that their characters won’t die anyway – or if they do, they won’t stay dead. Rodriguez’ would likely become the long-term counterpart to Sean Bean, whose regular demise has long since achieved cult status in film and television.
Not the only star who rejected “Avatar 2”.
Besides Michelle Rodriguez also awarded Edward Norton “Avatar 2” a cancellation. He wanted to play a Na’vi at all costs, while James Cameron wanted to give him a human part. “I’m a Na’vi or nothing,” Norton said. So nothing came of it. In both cases, however, there was a conciliatory end: Norton and Rodriguez starred in the Cameron-produced manga adaptation”Alita: Battle Angel” of.
Letting down a director like James Cameron who actually wants one in his movie, that’s something. After all, it has been known for decades that virtually everything the Canadian sets out to do turns into gold. This also applies to ‘Avatar 2’, which became the third highest grossing film of all time with a box office profit of more than $2.31 billion. Fans of Rodriguez will still be able to take it since she’s currently in big business far away from Pandora:
Since yesterday, Thursday, Rodriguez can be seen in the wonderfully entertaining fantasy adventure “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”, on May 18th follows “Fast X”, the tenth (and probably penultimate) part of the “Fast & Furious” story.