James Cameron Sued for Allegedly Basing ‘Avatar’ Character on Indigenous Actor’s Likeness without Permission
The lawsuit says Cameron used her facial features without permission and seeks damages, profits and public disclosure over the Avatar character’s design.
- On Tuesday, actress Q'orianka Kilcher filed a lawsuit against filmmaker James Cameron and The Walt Disney Company, alleging Cameron used her 14-year-old facial features to create the Avatar character Neytiri without compensation.
- Cameron allegedly "extracted" facial features from a 2005 Los Angeles Times photograph of Kilcher promoting The New World after struggling to design a character that elicited empathy from audiences.
- Late last year, Kilcher discovered the alleged usage after viewing a broadcast interview where Cameron pointed to a Neytiri sketch and stated, "This is actually her lower face."
- The suit alleges this unauthorized use violates California's deepfake pornography statute because Neytiri appears in intimate scenes, and seeks damages for the "unlawful taking" of her likeness as a commercial production asset.
- Kilcher told the New York Times, "In the age of AI, our likeness is no longer safe," while representatives for Cameron and Disney have not yet responded to requests for comment.
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According to the complaint, the filmmaker admitted that he had used a photograph of Kilcher, who was still a minor, to create Neytiri's face.
For the character Neytiri in »Avatar«, James Cameron had a real role model: the actress Q的orianka Kilcher. Now, this lawsuit against the director and Disney has filed – among other things, a Deepfake paragraph.
James Cameron sued for allegedly basing ‘Avatar’ character on indigenous actor’s likeness without permission
An Indigenous actor has filed a lawsuit against James Cameron and The Walt Disney Company, claiming that her image was used without her consent as the basis for the character of Neytiri in Avatar. Q’orianka Kilcher filed the suit, with a press release (shared by The Guardian) alleging that “one of Hollywood’s most powerful film-makers exploited a young Indigenous girl’s biometric identity and cultural heritage to create a record-breaking film fr…
Q’orianka Kilcher’s face formed the basis for the design of the aliens in the film series. She wants to be compensated for this.
Actress sues James Cameron for ‘stealing’ her face for 'Avatar'
Avatar franchise director James Cameron is being sued by Q’orianka Kilcher over her allegation that he based an Avatar character on her image, without credit or compensation. The lawsuit says Cameron used Kilcher’s features without permission after seeing her in advert for 'The New World'.
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