A series of movies based on sympathizing with indigenous cultures is allegedly set on the backdrop of hypocritical practices, a new lawsuit is claiming.
James Cameron’s billion-dollar “Avatar” franchise has clear messages surrounding protecting native peoples and their environments, but according to a recent legal filing, he has actually been taking advantage of an aboriginal woman over the course of the 16-year lifespan of the films.
‘A hugely lucrative film franchise that presented itself as sympathetic to Indigenous struggles.’
Actress Q’orianka Kilcher said that when she played Pocahontas across from Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in 2005’s “The New World,” director Cameron was so enthralled by her “beauty” that he used her likeness.
Kilcher, who has a native Peruvian background, was allegedly the inspiration for Neytiri, the female lead played by Zoe Saldana.
Face off
As NBC News reported, Kilcher said she had no idea her face was being used until she saw Cameron at an event in 2010 after the first “Avatar” movie was released. She said Cameron invited her to his office and gave her the gift of a sketch drawn and signed by him.
The gift allegedly included a note that said: “Your beauty was my early inspiration for Neytiri. Too bad you were shooting another movie. Next time.”
Kilcher was just 14 years old when she played Pocahontas.
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AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images
Scan scam?
According to Variety, the legal complaint filed in California said Kilcher’s likeness was later replicated in production sketches, sculpted into 3D models, and laser-scanned into digital models to be distributed to visual effects companies. The lawsuit further alleged that Kilcher’s likeness was used not only in movies but in posters and promotions across the world.
An interview with Cameron from 2024 was also noted in the filing, in which the director stood in front of the “Avatar” sketch and specifically identified Kilcher.
“The source for this was a photograph that was in the L.A. Times as part of the promotion for ‘The New World.’ It’s a young actress named Q’orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in ‘The New World,'” Cameron explained. “So this is actually her lower face. She had a very interesting face, and I wound up meeting her years later, and I gave her a signed print of this.”
Don’t look back
After this, Cameron specifically told the interviewer that Kilcher was not the true inspiration for Neytiri and that Zoe Saldana — an American from New Jersey with a Dominican and Puerto Rican background — was actually who the character looked like.
“Not that she was the inspiration for the character,” Cameron said about Kilcher. “But I just wanted to show how a specific person’s look could come through in the character, and that was important, because then the second we cast Zoe, we started, you know, Neytiri suddenly looked like Zoe. So, you know, the question is how did we get to that point.”
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2005. Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images
‘Silently exploiting’
Lawyers for Kilcher said, however, that “what Cameron did was not inspiration; it was extraction.”
“[Cameron] took the unique biometric facial features of a 14-year-old indigenous girl, ran them through an industrial production process, and generated billions of dollars in profit without ever once asking her permission. That is not filmmaking. That is theft,” said Arnold P. Peter of Peter Law Group.
The lawsuit added, “The result was a hugely lucrative film franchise that presented itself as sympathetic to Indigenous struggles, all while silently exploiting a real Indigenous youth behind the scenes.”
Neither Disney nor Lightstorm Entertainment, both of which were named in the lawsuit, responded to Align’s request for comment.
Representatives for Cameron did not respond to requests from outlets like NBC News or People, either.
The “Avatar” trilogy has grossed over $1.8 billion at the box office. Two more movies are planned for 2029 and 2031.
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