James Cameron's Biggest Avatar Regret

Where could famed director James Cameron possibly have gone wrong, you ask? He's been responsible for the creation of some of the most remembered American films of the generation, and his latest one has spent two months trampling old box office records. Now, Cameron stands poised to carry home an Oscar for his 3-D sci-fi titan, which has commanded more international respect than any movie in years.

What could Cameron have to be sorry about?

The director admitted to Hollywood Reporter that he regretted that Avatar's fantastic visual effects may have detracted quite a bit from the actors' performances.

While Cameron gets all the glory, critics seem to glaze right over Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), and Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine), who have received no indication that they stand any chance of joining Cameron on Oscar night.

In truth, it may have been easy to forget that behind the mask of CGI-enhanced blue skin were actual actors.

"People confuse what we have done with animation," Cameron said. "It's nothing like animation. The creator here is the actor, not the unseen hand of an animator."

Indeed, Avatar meshed actual performance with CGI technology, leaving much expression at the hands of the actors. The box office giant highlights a major concern in modern film, though. Now that post-production of modern films offers countless ways to touch up performances and appearances, making actors appear older, younger, or bluer, audiences don't know for sure just how much of the genuine actor they are actually seeing.

Regardless of anyone's stance on how visual effects detract from what's real, in this case Cameron has little to apologize for. If the other aspects of the movie really drew that much attention away from the actors, it only goes to show just how phenomenal those aspects truly were.