Jon Landau Appreciation: He Gave James Cameron the Freedom to Be a Visionary

On the first day of production on the New Zealand location of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” actor Cliff Curtis asked if he could bring his family to the film’s home base to give a traditional blessing. Curtis showed up with 43 people and led an elaborate Maori blessing in front of the entire crew, then gave gifts to the crew members. Producer Jon Landau’s gift was a carved wooden oar — as Landau told TheWrap a couple of years later, “It was to help steer the ship as we were going into production. I still have it hanging on my wall.