James Cameron Eyes Post-Avatar Life With The Informationist

James Cameron said last Spring he disbanded his production company's development wing, noting that, aside from his deep-sea submarine dives, he's exclusively in the "Avatar business - meaning Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and possibly Avatar 4. Well, that was then and this is now… But Cameron's production company has picked up rights to Taylor Stevens' thriller novel, The Informationist, which he'll likely direct and produce.

"I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them," he told the New York Times earlier in the year. While Avatar-orama is still on, Cameron is eyeing a filmmaking life beyond the 3-D behemoth.

Avatar's follow-up may not hit screens for another four to five years, so it may be quite a number of years before The Informationist actually makes its way into production. But for now the plan is that his Lightstorm Entertainment label will develop the adaptation for 20th Century Fox, THR reports.

"This was an opportunity to continue our relationship with Fox and Jim Gianopulos beyond the Avatar films," Landau said in a statement to THR. "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.”

Said Cameron: "Taylor Stevens’ Vanessa Michael Munroe is an intriguing and compelling heroine with an agile mind and a thirst for adventure. Equally fascinating for me is her emotional life and her unexpected love story."

Amazon's description of The Informationist:

Stevens’s blazingly brilliant debut introduces a great new action heroine, Vanessa Michael Munroe, who doesn’t have to kick over a hornet’s nest to get attention, though her feral, take-no-prisoners attitude reflects the fire of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander….Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel to this high-octane page-turner.” —Publishers Weekly, starred, boxed review

Vanessa “Michael” Munroe deals in information—expensive information—working for corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. Born to missionary parents in lawless central Africa, Munroe took up with an infamous gunrunner and his mercenary crew when she was just fourteen. As his protégé, she earned the respect of the jungle's most dangerous men, cultivating her own reputation for years until something sent her running. After almost a decade building a new life and lucrative career from her home base in Dallas, she's never looked back.

[Sources: THR, The Film Stage, Amazon]