Jon Landau, an Academy Award-winning producer who worked closely with director James Cameron on three of the biggest blockbusters of all time - ‘Titanic’ and two ‘Avatar’ films - has died. He was 63. His family announced his death on Saturday. No cause of death was given.
Landau’s partnership with Cameron led to three Oscar nominations and a best picture win for 1997’s ‘Titanic’. Together the pair account for some of the biggest blockbusters in movie history, including ‘Avatar’ and its sequel, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’.
“Jon Landau believed in the dream of cinema. He believed that film is the ultimate human art form and to make films you have to first be human yourself,” Cameron said in a lengthy statement posted by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. “He will be remembered as much for his vast generosity of spirit as for the movies themselves. I worked with Jon Landau for 31 years and I never saw him downcast once. He led with a balance of humor and fierce will and true joy in the work,” Cameron said.
Landau’s career began in the 1980s as a production manager and he gradually rose through the ranks, serving as a co-producer on ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ and ‘Dick Tracy’. He took on the producer role on ‘Titanic’, Cameron’s expensive epic about the infamous 1912 maritime disaster. The bet paid off: ‘Titanic’ became the first movie to cross one billion dollars in global box-office earnings and went on to win 11 Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’.
“I can’t act. I can’t compose and I can’t do visual effects, so I guess that’s why I’m producing,” Landau said while accepting the award with Cameron.
Their partnership continued, with Landau becoming a top executive at Cameron’s ‘Lightstorm Entertainment’. In 2009 the pair watched ‘Avatar’, a sci-fi epic filmed and shown in theaters with groundbreaking 3D technology, which surpassed the box-office success of ‘Titanic’. It remains the top-grossing film of all time. Its sequel, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, is third on the list.
“Your wisdom and support shaped so many of us in ways we will always be grateful for,” Zoe Saldaña, one of the stars of the ‘Avatar’ franchise, said in an emotional tribute on ‘Instagram’.
Jon Landau is survived by his wife of nearly 40 years, Julie; their sons, Jamie and Jodie and two sisters and a brother.