James Cameron Made Avatar's Na'vi Blue Because All The Other Colors Were Taken

Read what any filmmaker has to say about how specific choices made in certain films came to be, and there's a high likelihood that it simply came together as a matter of logistics. It's not quite as glamorous or sexy as fans may want, but hey — that's just how the moviemaking business goes, sometimes. (Just ask Christopher McQuarrie, for one example of this idea in action.)

When it comes to the unquestioned visionaries and cinematic giants living and breathing among us, however, it can become even more tempting to chalk up every little detail we see on screen to an obsessive thought process that broke down each and every possible angle into a fine powder. But as much as those who subscribe to auteur theory would like to believe otherwise, reality can be quite different ... and a lot more mundane.

Take it from James Cameron, whose "Avatar: The Way of Water" is finally set to release after years of serving as a punchline. After essentially dedicating decades of his life to telling this one expansive story, surely most (if not all) of the details that have since become such entrenched iconography in this franchise were planned out with purpose and care. But when it comes to the actual color of the otherworldly beings at the center of "Avatar," well, Cameron is once again reiterating that he had essentially no choice in the matter (as he originally addressed in this 2009 MTV interview). According to the legendary filmmaker, the Na'vi were always destined to be blue.

It isn't easy being blue! James Cameron knows all about it, having guided 2009's "Avatar" to smashing box office records as the highest-grossing film of all time (not accounting for inflation and including a re-release or two, of course) despite weathering all sorts of jokes about populating the original film with blue people who have weird tails and ears. Just don't ask the "Aliens" and "The Terminator" director about what went into picking blue, of all colors. 

In an interview with Empire for the January 2023 issue of the magazine, Cameron opened up about the blue-tinged elephant in the room. Anyone hoping for some thought-provoking, emotional answer about how Cameron picked blue to evoke the wonders of Pandora or to set up the water-themed story for the sequel are bound to be disappointed:

"As for the colour: green was taken. There was a long history of green aliens. Plus, the Hulk. And the human colours, pinks and browns, weren't alien. SpongeBob was yellow. That pretty much left blue and purple. Purple is my favorite colour, but I figured we'd use that for one of our main bioluminescence colours, which we did, associating it with Eywa and anything sacred to the Navi."

Oh, but that's not all. Because this is James Cameron, he naturally had another (and weirder) source of inspiration.

"Also, my mom told me about this dream she had where there was a ten-foot-tall blue woman with six breasts. Cool image. I drew her, but the six breasts thing didn't come out looking as good as it sounds, plus would mess with the rating. So, anyway ... blue."

There you have it, folks. "Avatar: The Way of Water" crashes into theaters on December 16, 2022.