Emily Blunt auditioned for the role of Neytiri but James Cameron preferred a relatively unknown actress.

Charisma Carpenter was set to star as Neytiri when the film was began to be developed around 1995, but by the time of filming she was no longer age appropiate.

He said, when discussing a new project with Neil Blomkamp (District 9's director) and asked if he will be an alien: "I'm not going to be a 10-foot-tall blue alien... though I did have a chance to be in that movie." Obviously referencing Avatar...