James Cameron will take Avatar break to work on The Devils adaptation
James Cameron will take a break from 'Avatar' to work on an adaptation of 'The Devils'.
The 70-year-old filmmaker has confirmed his own production company Lightstorm Entertainment has acquired the rights to author Joe Abercrombie's new novel, and they'll be writing the script together.
He said in a statement on Facebook: "I've loved Joe's writing for years, cherishing each new read, throughout the epic cycle of the 'First Law' books, especially 'Best Served Cold' (LOVE IT!), and the 'Age of Madness' trilogy.
'But the freshness of the world and the characters in 'The Devils' finally got me off my butt to buy one of his books and partner with him to bring it to the screen.
"I can't wait to dig into this as I wind down on 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'. It will be a joyful new challenge for me to bring these indelible characters to life.'
The third 'Avatar' film is set to be released in December this year, with a fourth and fifth instalment planned for 2029 and 2031 respectively.
Cameron's next project will be 'The Devils', putting his stamp on the dark fantasy epic which focuses on a special force of monsters tasked to save Europe from flesh-eating elves.
Author Abercrombie said: "I can't think of anyone better to bring this weird and wonderful monster of a book to the screen.'
Cameron recently admitted he had too many "great ideas" packed into 2022's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' - which clocked in at three hours and 12 minutes - but he's gone even bigger with the upcoming 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'.
He told Empire magazine: 'In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2. The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren't drilling down enough on character. So I said, 'Guys, we've got to split it.'
'Movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2.'
His co-writer Amanda Silver, who wrote the script with Cameron and Rick Jaffa, stressed the second and third movies are separate films because "the characters needed to breathe".
She said: 'These movies are a lot more than just propulsive plot and gorgeous spectacle. I mean, these are real characters.'
The director previously declared he feels "pretty good" about the third movie after giving "selected people" an advance screening.
He told Stuff: "I've shown it to a few selected people and the feedback has been ... it's definitely the most emotional and maybe the best of the three so far.
"We'll find out, you know, but I feel pretty good about it."
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