Kilcher Sues Cameron, Disney Over Avatar Likeness

Actress Qorianka Kilcher filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against filmmaker James Cameron, The Walt Disney Company, Lightstorm Entertainment and several visual effects companies, alleging they used her likeness without permission to help design the character Neytiri in the Avatar films.

According to the court filing, Kilcher, who portrayed Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World at age 14, claims Cameron drew from a publicly available Los Angeles Times photograph of her to develop Neytiri's facial features, particularly the lower face, lips, chin, jawline and mouth shape. The complaint states Cameron instructed his design team to incorporate those elements, which were then reproduced in production sketches, three-dimensional maquettes, laser-scanned digital models and shared with visual effects vendors. The resulting image appeared in the three Avatar films, posters, merchandise, sequels and rereleases, the filing alleges.

Kilcher never consented to the use of her likeness in the films or related products, according to the complaint. It further claims the process violated California's recently enacted statute on deepfake...