‘Avatar’ Producer Jon Landau Dies at 63, James Cameron Pens Tribute to Late Collaborator | James Cameron, Jon Landau, RIP | Just Jared: Celebrity News and Gossip

James Cameron is paying tribute to his longtime pal and collaborator Jon Landau.

The Academy Award-winning producer, most well-known for the Avatar films, in addition to Honey, I Shrunk the Children, Alita: Battle Angel and Titanic, handed away on the age of 63 on Friday (July 5), his son Jamie Landau confirmed to THR.

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Jon handed away after a 16-month lengthy battle with most cancers, in accordance with a Disney spokesperson.

Following the lack of his pal and longtime collaborator, James Cameron shared an emotional tribute to the late producer.

“An important producer and an excellent human being has left us. Jon Landau believed within the dream of cinema. He believed that movie is the final word human artwork type, and to make movies it’s important to first be human your self. He might be remembered as a lot for his huge generosity of spirit as for the flicks themselves,” he shared in a press release with THR.

“I labored with Jon Landau for 31 years and I by no means noticed him downcast as soon as,” James went on. “He led with a steadiness of humor and fierce will, and true pleasure within the work. Once I met him, he was the studio ‘go well with’ assigned to supervise True Lies in ’93. Within the midst of the logistical nightmare of that manufacturing we got here to respect and luxuriate in one another. A bond cast in hearth. I lured him away from Fox to hitch my manufacturing firm, Lightstorm [Entertainment] and collectively we then tackled Titanic, a manufacturing as formidable and seemingly ill-fated because the ship itself. Jon bore the brunt of the studio stress and gave his all to offer the time and assets for me to make the movie I noticed in my head. From that we grew to become brothers in arms. We believed we may remedy any manufacturing downside. The subsequent mountain we climbed was Avatar, a manufacturing that extra resembled the Manhattan Venture… making up new physics as we went alongside. Mastering a model new methodology to inform tales. Once more Jon gave his all, and by no means misplaced religion that we have been doing one thing extraordinary and that we’d in some way prevail. Within the course of we not solely made a movie, we cast a household. Jon was the center of the Avatar household, together with his humor, generosity and large capability to make individuals really feel valued and ‘seen.’ He gave everybody a way of function and belonging. And this continued via the making of the sequels. It’s not possible to convey how a lot our tight knit group will miss this man, this drive of nature… the middle of gravity of our little bubble universe. Jon created a group, a household, on Avatar and at Lightstorm, however not on the expense of his circle of relatives, who have been all the time his highest precedence.”

He continued, “Jon was my proper hand and I used to be his. In recent times we grew to become a trapeze act… complete interdependence, complete belief, complete synchronization. We grew to become not solely the closest of working companions, however the closest of associates. My final message to him was not solely that I cherished him however that I missed our every day dialogue. We might speak twenty instances a day, normally in his workplace which he positioned strategically between mine and the set. Fixing each downside that got here alongside. Jon had the energy to inform me after I was flawed, and I discovered through the years to belief that he was proper. Jon cherished his work, and cherished the individuals round him, the wonderful crew he had constructed. Each day was joyful battle, towards entropy — the chaos that threatens to unravel each human endeavor. The middle all the time held, underneath Jon’s watchful eye. We fought via the pandemic collectively to ship Avatar: The Means of Water. Collectively, we thought we may remedy something. However you may’t remedy the fragility of life itself. I’m grateful for yearly, day-after-day, each minute we had collectively. I’m grateful for the assumption he had in me and what his partnership allowed us to perform collectively. Part of myself has been torn away. However the wonderful crew he assembled and led nonetheless stays, and we are going to dedicate ourselves to fulfilling Jon’s legacy. Not simply the movies but to return, however the love and connection that binds the Avatar and Lightstorm household collectively.”

Our ideas and condolences exit to Jon Landau‘s household and family members throughout this time. RIP.