The last time that director James Cameron and Kate Winslet worked together, they made what became, at the time, the highest-grossing movie ever made. It's perhaps fitting that the pair have reunited to make the sequel to Avatar, the movie that eventually supplanted Titantic as the highest-grossing movie ever made. While it may be fitting to see the two together again, it's also, to be honest, more than a little surprising, though it seems a lot has changed in more than 20 years.
While Titanic may have become one of the biggest love stories in the history of cinema, the actual production of the film, from most reports, was anything but. While Kate Winslet herself has rarely said anything too negative about the experience, she seemed to make reference to the reported difficulties recently when she told THR how much better the experience of Avatar 2 was for her. She credits the years that have past which seem to have made James Cameron a more relaxed person in general. According to Winslet...
It was so wonderful to work with Jim again. Time has changed him. Jim has become a father a few more times over. He is a calmer person. Chilled. You can just feel him enjoying it more this time.
Kate Winslet has largely downplayed the reports that James Cameron was somewhat difficult to work with on Titanic, and would occasionally lose his temper on the set. There were other issues, however, including a nickname James Cameron reportedly used to refer to Winslet which made reference to her weight. Kate Winslet also reportedly got pneumonia the set of Titanic, which, if nothing else, also makes it more than a little ironic that the actress signed up to be in another movie with James Cameron that would put her in the water for long periods of time.
Whatever Kate Winslet's feelings about James Cameron back then truly were, she has nothing but good things to say now. It's been more than two decades after all and nobody stays exactly the same in that time. Cameron has seemingly mellowed out. Whether or not losing his temper on the set of Titanic was a big deal or not, it seems that the current James Cameron just doesn't do such things.
While the set of a production that is even now in the middle of filming two movies during a pandemic is certainly a place full of interesting questions, the far more interesting question is exactly when are we ever going to see these movies. The Avatar sequels first release dates were so long ago Avatar 2 would already be out if the original dates had been met. We thought we were finally going to see the second film next year, but now pandemic has delayed things another 12 months, to December of 2022.
