Real details on Avatar, James Cameron’s first feature since 1997 that’s not about boats or sea creatures or his beard, have been sketchy. We haven’t seen significant character or creature designs or anything that communicates what this sucker is actually going to be like. Not that we need to guess too much, since Cameron has been nothing if not consistent in his deptiction of a scientific future.

We do know some of the players, however, and the latest addition to the cast is my favorite ex-con from My Name Is Earl: Giovanni Ribisi. His role is a "passive-aggressive character named Selfridge", which could describe a hell of a lot of Ribisi’s past work as well. Evidently Cameron recognized a little something last time he turned on Lost In Translation.

I’m actually a lot more intersted in the possibility of Ribisi working with Christopher McQuarrie in The Standford Prison Experiment, but then I like stories about men pretending to be in the big house. They’re just like my happiest dreams.