LOS ANGELES—In a shocking deposition that upended the foundations of copyright law, director James Cameron confessed Tuesday that the inspiration for the Na’vi character Neytiri in ‘Avatar’ was actually “just a composite of whoever happened to be near the catering table during pre-production.” The revelation arrived as actress and activist Q’orianka Kilcher filed a lawsuit against Cameron and Disney for allegedly using her likeness without consent, citing comments Cameron made about her beauty inspiring the blue, feline-featured alien.

“Look, it’s not just Q’orianka. At one point, I considered basing Neytiri on my accountant, the UPS guy, and a vaguely blue balloon I saw at a birthday party,” Cameron revealed in a court statement. “It was a creative free-for-all. By 2008, everyone in Burbank was a potential Na’vi.”

Disney spokespeople declined to comment, though an anonymous studio executive assured press, “We used a ‘Wheel of Inspiration’ to pick faces for every character. We spun it, it landed on ‘local actress,’ and the rest is box office history.”

Kilcher’s legal team presented evidence that Cameron had indeed told her, ‘Beautiful, but you look too busy to spend 800 hours in a leotard covered in ping pong balls.’ A former intern, Steve Niblitz, corroborated the chaotic process: “I was the inspiration for at least two background aliens. Mostly because I was standing too close to the concept artist while eating Cheetos.”

Legal experts predict a wave of lawsuits from anyone who’s ever possessed high cheekbones within a three-mile radius of a major motion capture studio.