Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1097515
DGA QUARTERLY 27 t Manhattan Beach Studios, in the heart of L.A. County 's South Bay, directors James Cameron and Jon Favreau have been long immersed in projects shrouded in secrecy: Cameron working simultaneously on the four planned sequels to his groundbreaking planned sequels to his groundbreaking 2009 blockbuster Avatar, and Favreau on Avatar, and Favreau on Avatar a TV series based on the ever-expanding a TV series based on the ever-expanding Star Wars Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian. On the surface, the two filmmakers couldn't be more unalike. Cameron broke into the business via visual e ects before rapidly mastering all phases of the pro- duction process, while Favreau started out as an actor-writer who closely stud- ied the methodology of the directors he worked with. With Terminator and Avatar Avatar, Cameron has built his own fran- chise empire; with projects like the Iron Man Man movies, The Jungle Book, the upcom- ing The Lion King and The Mandalorian, Favreau is bringing wondrous dimension to existing Marvel, Disney and Lucasfi lm properties. What they have in common is a whole- hearted embrace of bleeding-edge tech- nology, the ability to keep pushing the envelope and raising the bar on their A Photographed by Kevin Scanlon ators