The Hurt Locker in many ways was like a remake of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Both Avatar and Hurt Locker are also strictly about the US Military, so in a way they’re like bookends, the popcorn 3-D movie for the kids and the Oscar winner for the adults.

Cameron and Bigelow are obviously very close. He “encouraged her to make the film”, and saw it “many times” during the editing process.

Does anyone remember how Courtney Love just happened to produce a brilliant album while she was married to the brilliant Kurt Cobain? I mean seriously, do people really believe that this B-picture director just made possibly the best war movie of all time all by herself. Give me a friggin’ break!

Here’s a more likely scenario: the studios wanted Cameron to usher in the new 3-D era with the time consuming Avatar, and he agreed on condition that he could also make a real war movie for adults at the same time, only he wouldn’t get credit for it, his old hot girlfriend would instead. All his direction would be done remotely, like Kubrick pioneered with 2001.

So everybody’s happy – Cameron gets to make the highest grossing film of all time and the best war film of all time in the same year (with a lot of help from Kubrick), his old girlfriend gets her 15 minutes in the spotlight, and the studios get their box office and their Oscar ratings.

Brilliant. Almost as good as the Moon landings!