Avatar: Cameron, Sam, Sigourney, and synthespians

James Cameron, known for the Terminator series, Aliens, and the blockbuster, Titanic, is turning his new 3-D film making process on a project called, Avatar, planned for release on May 22, 2009.

Early write up on the project from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_880

Recently Cameron and crew were seen shooting in New Zealand, also pulling in the resources of Peter Jackson's Weta Digital, bringing to life the story of a paralyzed former marine who undergoes an experiment to exist as an avatar, a human mind in an alien body. His avatar then goes to an alien planet, "thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival." Perth, Australian actor, Sam Worthington is cast as Jake Sully, who plays the former marine who undergoes the experiment to exist as an avatar. Working again with director James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver plays a botanist who mentors Jake Sully.

Avatar will also introduce six actors who are synthespians, or synthetic (in this case, digital) actors. Anyone familiar with Lord of the Ring's Gollum, played to perfection by Andy Serkis, or Aki Ross from the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, understand how realistic computer-generated synthespians appear. Currently out in US theaters, Roger Zemeckis' retelling of Beowulf (http://www.beowulfmovie.com/) also uses synthespians, enhancing the performances of actors Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, and many others.