James Cameron Implemented A Strict Vegan Diet For Everyone On The Set Of Avatar

They say to practice what you preach, which was the exact mindset of director James Cameron when helming his "Avatar" movies. The world was introduced to Cameron's fantastical epic in 2009, where the first "Avatar" roped in audiences thanks to its grand-scaled world and groundbreaking 3D and motion capture technology. But the $2 billion blockbuster came a story that, at its core, expressed a need for us to protect and love the world we live in. Is it subtle? Absolutely not. But whether you see the film's environmental message as corny as Captain Planet or containing something of meaning, there's no denying where Cameron aims for the audiences' sympathy to lie. 

He brought this same sensibility to the film's long-awaited sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," which, as its title implies, aims to deliver another potent environmental message regarding the world's aquatic resources. While both films' stories are already pretty heavy-handed with the ideas they're trying to explore, it turns out that Cameron wanted to reflect these ideas in real life as best as possible while making them. 

As it turns out, James Cameron didn't want to limit the way of the Na'vi to the big screen. The "Titanic" director had gone vegan for some time before the making of "Avatar," but it was while making the sci-fi fantasy adventure that Cameron made a big move that would take his crew by surprise. 

On an interview with Deadline, Cameron shares the big moment. "I sat down with the entire crew," Cameron says. "And I said, 'These films, we're not just doing them to make money or to make cool, imaginative images and doing amazing animation. We're doing them for a higher purpose because they mean something. And we have to walk the walk ... So we're all going to eat vegan on this production." Talk about avoiding hypocrisy. He reportedly brought this policy back onto the set of "Avatar: The Way of Water" and its future sequels.

Cameron's push for plant-based diets is not only thanks to their proven health and environmental benefits, but ultimately to preserve the ideas behind his own work. As he tells Deadline, "Between the lines, these movies are about our relationship with nature ... If we're really going to be caretakers of this planet we have to eat like we give a d***. And most of us don't."