“They will have actual lust for her”: James Cameron Wanted Zoe Saldaña’s Character to “Have T-ts” in Avatar To Draw in Male Viewers

Owing to James Cameron’s excellence when it comes to writing women, he was pretty vocal about Petty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman for oversexualizing Diana, stating it was a step backward for female representation on the big screen.

Oddly, there was a deep level of irony in the director’s complaint against Wonder Woman, as he claimed that the character was misguided. Back in 2009, The Terminator director engaged in a gleeful interview with Playboy, revealing that the reasoning behind the inclusion of t*ts in Zoe Saldana’s Neyitiri was a way to appeal to the male demographic.

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James Cameron Ignored Biology to Make Neyitiri Hot to Appeal to Men

When it comes to the geography and the animals, James Cameron and the crew working on Avatar were pretty thorough about each individual creature and plant as all were cataloged in a 350-page Pandorapedia. But the acclaimed director was fixated on adding t*ts to Zoe Saldana‘s Neyitiri, even though biologically, it didn’t make any sense as they weren’t placental mammals. Eventually, he did move on with the decision, making Neyitiri “smoking hot”, stating that men “will have actual lust for a character that consists of pixels of ones and zeroes”. He said,

“Right from the beginning I said, ‘She’s got to have t*ts,’ even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na’vi, aren’t placental mammals. I designed her costumes based on a taparrabo, a loincloth thing worn by Mayan Indians. We go to another planet in this movie, so it would be stupid if she ran around in a Brazilian thong or a fur bikini like Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.”

While it can’t be said for sure whether Cameron was joking in the interview, on the bright side, his contribution to creating iconic female leads can’t be understated.

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James Cameron Didn’t Find Wonder Woman Groundbreaking

From Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor to Kate Winslet’s Rose and Zoe Saldana’s Neyitiri, James Cameron is second to none when it comes to writing women. Not only these are some of the best female leads ever put to the silver screen but are also some of the most iconic movie characters in general. And following his prowess in creating such great leads, it’s reasonable to see why Petty Jenkins’ depiction of one of the most popular fictional characters didn’t sit well with him. Per him, there was nothing “groundbreaking in Wonder Woman.”

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Despite his statements on Neyitiri, which hasn’t aged well with time, the director did hit the ball out of the park with Neyitiri in Avatar 2, especially in the third act, which Zoe Saldana completely owned.

Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are available to stream on Disney Plus.