James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameronis a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer. He first found major success with the science fiction action film The Terminator. He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens; three years later he followed up with The Abyss...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth16 August 1954
CityKapuskasing, Canada
CountryUnited States of America
We have nightmares because our brain is running simulations to put us in jeopardy to see what we'll do or to acclimatize us to that idea that something bad could happen. It's just how human beings are wired because the entire time we were evolving we had to jump quick or the leopard would get us or whatever it was. It's Darwinian.
I'm a curious guy. I can't turn away from an investigative story, when it comes to the forensic analysis. I've done 33 dives, to the titanic wreck site. I've spent over 50 hours piloting robotic vehicles at that wreck trying to piece together what happened during the disaster. How the ship broke up, comparing the historical record with the forensic record. Documentaries are kind of my new life. I love documentary filmmaking.
If it was up to the studio, everything would be shot with a camcorder.
Usually, when you go to a movie, your consciousness floats above the film. 3D sucks you in and makes it a visceral experience.
I probably spend more time writing than reading science fiction. I find that science-fiction literature is so reactive to all the literature that's gone before that it's sort of like a fractal. It's gone to a level of detail that the average person could not possibly follow unless you're a fan. It iterates upon many prior generations of iterations.
I think "Avatar" is kind of a unique category where people are enjoying the unique theatrical experience even though they may have seen it on the small screen. They want to have that immersive, transportive experience. "2001: A Space Odyssey" played for three years at the Loews cinema in Toronto. I remember that. It just kept playing. People wanted to return to that experience. That may not be the best example because I think "2001" took 25 years to break even.
You can have a strong economy or you can help the environment, but you can't do both at the same time. That's ridiculous. In fact, as a sustainable vision for a healthy economy has to involve changing our energy policy and changing with respect to the natural world. Because we're hitting nature's thresholds, we're hitting nature's limits with respect to water and crop yields and energy use and fossil fuels heating the atmosphere at the same time we're past global peak and running out of that.
The nation that leads in renewable energy will be the nation that leads the world.
I'm certainly not a fan of conversion when you could shoot the movie in 3-D.
Everybody is always talking about droughts and sea level rise, but when human civilization, with more crowding and greater resource depletion, is under that much stress, it translates into wars and huge displaced populations. The Syrian refugee crisis is just a first taste of what it's going to be like. I don't want my kids growing up in that kind of world.
Jack: Where to, Miss? Rose: To the stars.
The films that influenced me were so disparate that there's almost no pattern.
I always do makeup touch-ups myself, especially for blood, wounds, and dirt. It saves so much time.
It took me a long time to realize that you have to have a bit of an interlanguage with actors. You have to give them something that they can act with.