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Filmmaker James Cameron, known for directing Terminator and Aliens revealed that he cut 10 minutes of “gunplay” from Avatar 2.

James Cameron has mostly put down the gun in the long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water. In a new interview with Esquire Middle East, the filmmaker, 68, explained how American gun violence impacted his creation of the Avatar sequel.

“I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action,” Cameron revealed. “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark.”

Cameron added, “You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”

Cameron, who’s directed Hollywood classics including Terminator, Aliens and Titanic, also revealed that he doesn’t know if he’d feature as much violence in his previous films.

“I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30 plus years ago, in our current world,” Cameron said. “What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.”

In 2012, the director purchased 2,500 acres of farmland in New Zealand where he now lives, noting the country’s horrific 2019 mass shooting.

“I’m happy to be living in New Zealand where they just banned all assault rifles two weeks after that horrific mosque shooting a couple of years ago.”

Avatar: The Way of Water has commanded the global box office since releasing on December 16. Per Deadline, the film has grossed $950 million worldwide to date.