Did the kid in you ever dream of flying or want to run away and join the circus? Erica Linz did, and the results are on display in the new 3-D film “Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away.”

Written and directed by Andrew Adamson, the film, which opens Friday, was produced by Oscar winner James Cameron.

 “He’s just a dude. A regular guy,” aerialist Linz says of the “king of the world” filmmaker. “I knew there was a person named James Cameron, but not that he’d be in my world. So I’m talking about tattoos and favorite beers and silly stuff for about 20 minutes to this guy who introduced himself as Jim. I found out maybe an hour later that that was him!”

She describes Cameron as half-scientist, half-storyteller: “He’s very meticulous. On this film, James was sort of the guardian of the technology. Andrew Adamson, the director, is this really light, chill, mellow guy and he brought that feeling to the set. So together they created a great environment.”

The very lightly plotted girl-meets-boy tale sets Linz’s character in search of an aerialist (played by Igor Zaripov) and leads her through a rabbit hole into the wonderland of Cirque.

Also light on dialogue, the film’s true calling card is a series of lavish sequences from “Ka,” “Mystere” and other Las Vegas installations that cannot tour due to their physical complexity, ending with a newly choreographed aerial routine for Linz and Zaripov.

A key feature of the film, Linz says, is its physical perspective.

“You can’t get that close to the action in a live production, even from the front row or the stage,” Linz says. “You also can’t slow things down so you can see such detail in the grips and transitions and landings.”

She hopes that the film will inspire people.

“I hope that it will move people the way I was moved the first time I saw a Cirque show,” she says. “I hope that it inspires some people to see things beyond the possibilities of what is right in front of them.”

From Linz’s perspective, the world could learn a lot from Cirque.

“I was shocked recently because I had some experiences where I ran [into] some racism and homophobia,” says the 10-year Cirque veteran. “I’ve been insulated in this magical world where culture is just flavor. Tolerance doesn’t even come close to covering it. It’s more like being enthusiastically embraced and enriched by the diversity.  People come to Cirque from all walks of life. There’s no place for ‘ism’ there. It doesn’t work.”

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