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\u201cYellowstone\u201d and \u201cThe New World\u201d actor Q\u2019orianka Kilcher has taken legal action against filmmaker James Cameron, Disney and others she says used her likeness in the wildly lucrative \u201cAvatar\u201d film franchise without her knowledge. <\/p>\n
Kilcher, 36, filed her complaint Tuesday in California Central District Court and is suing on numerous counts including misappropriation of likeness, invasion of privacy and interfering with possible financial gain. She is seeking an unspecified amount in damages and a jury trial. The parties involved in the making of the \u201cAvatar\u201d film series \u201ccommercially exploited [Kilcher\u2019s] likeness in developing and continuing the Avatar franchise\u201d and \u201csystematically avoided alerting or crediting her,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n
Disney and a legal representative for Cameron did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Cameron\u2019s production company Lightstorm Entertainment, a California-based laser scanning studio and a New Zealand-based VFX firm are also among the co-defendants. <\/p>\n
The claim at the core of Kilcher\u2019s lawsuit is that Cameron in 2005 \u201cextracted, replicated and commercially deployed her facial likeness\u201d from a photo of a 14-year-old Kilcher as Pocahontas in the Terrence Malick film \u201cThe New World\u201d and used it to inform the facial characteristics of Neytiri, a key character in the \u201cAvatar\u201d franchise played by Zoe Salda\u00f1a. Cameron spoke of Kilcher\u2019s influence on the character in an interview with French YouTube channel Konbini. In the video, published in 2024<\/a> and noted in the lawsuit, James references the original sketch work for Neytiri. \u201cThe source for this was a photograph that was in the L.A. Times as part of the promotion for \u2018The New World,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a young actress named Q\u2019orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in \u2018The New World.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He adds in the video: \u201cThis is actually her lower face. She had a very interesting face. And I wound up meeting her years later and I gave her a signed print of this [sketch].\u201d <\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges that the final look of Neytiri featured in the \u201cAvatar\u201d films \u201cwas not a fleeting inspiration or vague homage; it was a literal transplant of a real teenager\u2019s facial structure into a blockbuster movie character.\u201d In the 2024 interview, Cameron said the model of Neytiri had come to resemble Salda\u00f1a after she was cast. The first \u201cAvatar\u201d film was released in 2009 and grossed more than $2.9 billion. <\/p>\n The complaint also claims that the design process for Cameron\u2019s Na\u2019vi character moved on without Kilcher\u2019s consent and that she was not compensated for influencing Neytiri\u2019s design, further alleging that the film team\u2019s actions \u201cviolated child performer laws and privacy laws designed to protect minors.\u201d According to the lawsuit, the team behind \u201cAvatar\u201d did not \u201ceven attempt to have Plaintiff audition for the role of Neytiri\u201d and refused the actor after her agent attempted to book a reading for the sci-fi epic. <\/p>\n Kilcher accuses Cameron of \u201ccreating a misleading narrative that she was simply unavailable\u201d to appear in the original \u201cAvatar\u201d film and of leading her on with the idea of potentially appearing in later \u201cAvatar\u201d movies. Cameron released \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d in 2022 and \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d in 2025. <\/p>\n The lawsuit said Cameron and Kilcher crossed paths at a Hollywood environmental charity event in 2010 and he instructed her to later pick up a \u201csurprise gift\u201d at his production offices. According to the lawsuit, Cameron gifted Kilcher a framed and signed print of the original Neytiri sketch with the note: \u201cYour beauty was my early inspiration for Neytiri. Too bad you were shooting another movie. Next time.\u201d Kilcher said she found the note confusing at the time. She had also contacted Cameron over the years, but \u201cnothing concrete materialized,\u201d according to the lawsuit. <\/p>\n