James Cameron directing ‘The Informationist’ after ‘Avatar’ sequels
The second and third “Avatar” films are currently in pre-production, but director James Cameron already has his post-Na’vi project all lined up. 20th Century Fox announces Tuesday (Oct. 23) that Cameron will direct an adaptation of the novel “The Informationist.”
Cameron and business partner Jon Landau acquired the rights to Taylor Stevens’ book, which was published in October 2011.
The story focuses on information specialist Vanessa “Michael” Munroe, “whose work is in-demand by corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise,” according to Fox’s press release. Munroe is hired by a Texas oil billionaire to find his missing daughter, forcing Munroe to “come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget.”
“Taylor Stevens’ Vanessa ‘Michael’ Munroe is an intriguing and compelling heroine with an agile mind and a thirst for adventure,” Cameron says in the release. “Equally fascinating for me is her emotional life and her unexpected love story. I’m looking forwarding to bringing Vanessa and her world to the big screen.”
Landau adds, “This was an opportunity to continue our relationship with Fox and Jim Gianopulos beyond the ‘Avatar’ films. We were drawn to this book because of the terrific, compelling narrative and the character, who typifies the strong female protagonists that have inhabited Jim’s work — in this case Vanessa Munroe is essentially a mix of Lisbeth Salander and Jason Bourne.”
The book’s author is something of an interesting character herself, having grown up in a religious cult. Stevens, whose second Monroe novel was published earlier this year, left the Children of God in her 20s and now lives in Texas.