James Cameron and Disney Are Facing Another ‘Avatar’ Lawsuit
Just six months after James Cameron was hit with a $500 million lawsuit over allegations that he plagiarized the plot of Avatar: The Way of Water, the legendary filmmaker now finds himself embroiled in another legal battle.
Q’Orianka Kilcher has filed a federal lawsuit in California, accusing Cameron and The Walt Disney Company of misusing her likeness to create the Neytiri character in the Avatar films.
Photo: Collider.com
Cameron, she alleges, “extracted, replicated, and commercially deployed her facial likeness” to create the iconic lead character.
Photo: IMDB
Kilcher, who is of Indigenous Peruvian descent, made her film debut as Pocahontas in 2005’s The New World, five years before Avatar was released.
The Allegations
According to the lawsuit, Cameron used a photo of Kilcher as Pocahontas as source material for Neytiri’s digitally rendered facial features.
Photo: 21st Century Fox
“What Cameron did was not inspiration, it was extraction,” Kilcher’s attorney, Arnold Peter of Peter Law Group, said in a statement via Reuters. “He 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.”
The lawsuit further argues that Cameron previously acknowledged using an image of Kilcher to help create Neytiri’s design.
Photo: Also IMDB
“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,” the lawsuit states.
What Kilcher Wants
Kilcher is reportedly seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages.
Photo: Complex.com
Neither Disney nor Cameron has commented on the lawsuit.
