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Avatar Director in Court: "Those Are My Facial Features!"
"This act is deeply wrong," believes actress Koreanca Kilcher, who is suing James Cameron.
TL;DR
- Actress Koreanca Kilcher is suing director James Cameron and Walt Disney, claiming the character Neytiri from the "Avatar" franchise is based on her likeness without permission.
- Kilcher alleges Cameron used her facial features, inspired by a 2005 LA Times advertisement for "The New World," to design Neytiri.
- The lawsuit states that Cameron exploited a "young native woman's biometric identity and cultural heritage" to create a blockbuster franchise without acknowledgment or compensation.
- Cameron allegedly gave Kilcher a sketch of Neytiri in 2010, stating her "beauty was my early inspiration for Neytiri."
- Kilcher learned about the alleged direct use of her features from a video where Cameron showed a sketch of Neytiri and referenced a photo of her.
- Her lawyer described Cameron's strategy as "exploitation, not inspiration," and called it "theft."