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James Cameron is paying tribute to his long-time producing partner Jon Landau in his latest film Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The Oscar-winning director, 71, took some time to honor Landau, who died at the age of 63 from cancer in July 2024, during his speech before the screening of the third installment of the Avatar series.
“There’s one person conspicuously absent on this stage tonight, and that is my producing partner of 33 years, Jon Landau, who passed away last year,” Cameron shared at the Avatar: Fire & Ash World Premiere on Monday, Dec. 1.
“John fought so hard to stay with us and to stay part of the film,” he continued. “And his spirit infuses all the Avatar films and we all, when he passed — it was a blow. It was a shock. And it was not lost on us that we were making a film about how humans process their loss and their grief.”
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He went on to say that he believed Landau’s death spurred the cast and the crew in the latest Avatar movie to step up and elevate the film so that it would be something that would have made him proud. The end credits of the film also feature a tribute to Landau.
“His spirit not only infused all the films, but I believe it sort of caused us to step up and rise to a higher level to make a film that he would’ve been proud of. And so that’s what we did. And now we present that film,” Cameron said concluding his speech.
Cameron, who worked alongside Landau in producing three of the highest-grossing movies of all time — Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water — was also one of the first people to pay tribute to his long-time collaborator after his death.
He told PEOPLE in a statement at the time that the Oscar-winning producer’s “zany humor, personal magnetism, great generosity of spirit and fierce will have held the center of our Avatar universe for almost two decades.”
“His legacy is not just the films he produced, but the personal example he set — indomitable, caring, inclusive, tireless, insightful and utterly unique,” he continued. “He produced great films, not by wielding power but by spreading warmth and the joy of making cinema. He inspired us all to be and to bring our best, every day.”
“I have lost a dear friend, and my closest collaborator of 31 years,” Cameron added of Landau, who also served as chief operating officer for his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, per Variety. “A part of myself has been torn away.”
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The pair’s bond was not only on display on-screen, but behind it as well. In a 2022 interview about Avatar: The Way of Water, Landau told The Hollywood Reporter that he had “seen an evolution of” Cameron since their careers first intertwined.
The director chimed in mid-chat to say, “Did he tell you we’re like an old married couple?” He then added of their partnership, “I don’t want to say nice things in front of him — it’ll go to his head — but I feel like there’s no problem we can’t solve.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on Dec. 19.
