Titanic<\/a> when he found himself trapped 12,500 feet below the ocean\u2019s surface. \u201cWe had been caught in a vortex on the downwind side of the wreck that kept driving us back to the bottom,\u201d Cameron recalls.<\/p>\n\n\tThe director and his pilot\u2019s attempts to break the sub free had exhausted their battery. So they powered down \u2014 and waited. Cameron sat in freezing darkness for about a half-hour in the haunting shadow of the iconic wreck, not knowing if the sub would have enough juice to resurface. It\u2019s a nightmarish scenario eerily similar to what the world initially feared had happened to OceanGate\u2019s doomed Titan submersible in\u00a02023.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt was,\u201d Cameron admits, \u201ca little spooky for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring those tense moments, Cameron did what he always does, literally every day, sometimes for hours at a stretch: \u201cI worked the problem.\u201d The filmmaker has many abilities \u2014 as a designer, storyteller, engineer and project leader. But his greatest talent is his ability to problem-solve. He does this for fun.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNo, seriously,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cI can\u2019t just loop endlessly over the problem on a project I\u2019m working on. My way of stress relief is to think about hard engineering problems on other projects.\u201d He doesn\u2019t even like to rely on GPS while driving. \u201cI\u2019m a paper-map guy \u2014 I know that sounds crazy,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I have a good sense of direction and a good memory. I think it comes from wreck diving. I can always find my way back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThroughout his career, Cameron has essentially asked himself: What\u2019s the toughest, most artistically fulfilling problem I can solve that will appeal to a mass audience? Would it be a Terminator sequel hinging on unproven CGI technology for its shape-shifting villain? An action-thriller shot underwater for months? Staging the sinking of the RMS Titanic on a 775-foot replica? Or an adventure on an alien planet that requires pioneering performance-capture and banks on a 3D revolution?<\/p>\n
\n\tYou know his results: a string of hits and three of the biggest films of all time (the first two Avatar titles collectively grossed $5.2 billion globally \u2014 more than Disney paid to acquire Star Wars). But Cameron feels many fail to appreciate the level of artistry and real-world effort that go into making the Avatar films, in particular, and he\u2019s not wrong (when I tell a friend I\u2019m writing about Fire and Ash, she says, \u201cIt feels like everything is made with AI now\u201d \u2014 a comment that would surely drive Cameron up a wall).<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tThom Sweeney suit, shirt; Cameron\u2019s own Rolex watch.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve somehow been lumped in with the issue of AI replacing actors,\u201d he says. \u201cAnybody who has seen our process is shocked by how performance-centric it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron has been emphasizing this on his press tour, and with good reason: Across an 18-month shoot, Cameron would sometimes work with actors for hours before a scene, then his technology translated their every micro-expression into his Na\u2019vi characters. Sigourney Weaver, who plays Kiri in the film, calls the process \u201cthe most liberating way of working; it\u2019s absolutely not what people think.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOn a live-action set, you\u2019re laying track in front of a moving train,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cOn a performance-capture set, we take as long as we need to. There\u2019s no worrying about the camera, about the lighting; I\u2019m not coming in with a shot list. For me, it\u2019s about getting to the emotional core of the scene. They say it\u2019s not \u2018real acting\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s the most bullshit thing in history, [as if] \u2018real acting\u2019 is stage acting where you\u2019re whispering loud enough to be heard 30 rows back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe new film has Marine turned Na\u2019vi revolutionary Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his fierce wife, Neytiri (Zoe Salda\u00f1a), and their children on the run from the brutal Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who finds an ally in franchise newcomer Varang (a scene-stealing Oona Chaplin), the frightening, seductive leader of the Ash People.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Ash clan was inspired by one of Cameron\u2019s globe-trotting explorations, when he met with the Baining people in Papua New Guinea. Cameron witnessed their fire ceremony and toured the remains of a town destroyed by a volcanic eruption.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey were in this trance state, dancing for seven hours on end in actual fire,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThen I was seeing these kids go into this ash field, joyfully playing in this almost postnuclear devastation. I wasn\u2019t thinking, \u2018I can use this for Avatar,\u2019 but it was one of those things that informs my dream landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tPART 2: \u201cTHIS CAN BE THE LAST ONE\u201d \t<\/p>\n
\n\tOnce again, Cameron has depicted an alien world stuffed with diverse beauty, wild creatures and epic action-adventure set pieces while largely filming in a single room in Manhattan Beach Studios in Southern California. There\u2019s a scene in Fire and Ash where the Sully kids swim in a raging, dirty river that\u2019s so photorealistic, it\u2019s almost dizzying (the reality: a water tank, a surging current and tons of brown sugar).<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film\u2019s first assembly cut approached four hours. Viewers at an early test screening were enthusiastic (when asked if they would see the film again, Cameron says the entire audience raised their hands). But some griped about the film\u2019s length. How Cameron handles a preview screening says a lot about his process.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI read every card [from audience members], and I do my own data-driven analysis,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are things that I\u2019ll [keep in the film] that are important to me, and there are things where I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, that\u2019s not a hill I\u2019m going to die on.\u2019 I like to please the audience. I\u2019m not somebody that likes the audience to come out of the theater going, \u2018What the fuck was that?’\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tPaul Smith jacket, shirt; Buck Mason jeans; Vince Belt; Cameron\u2019s Rolex.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron trimmed Fire and Ash to three hours and 15 minutes. He admits some at Disney would have preferred a shorter cut (\u201cThere\u2019s always pressure \u2014 \u2018Do we need all this stuff with Quaritch? He\u2019s the bad guy’\u201d).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a wisdom that\u2019s a carryover from decades ago that if we can have more [screenings per day], we\u2019ll make more money,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if you engage people, the word will spread. We proved it with Titanic, which is exactly the same length as Fire and Ash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron considers. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean Fire and Ash will make as much money as\u00a0Titanic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tExactly how much money Fire and Ash will make is a crucial question for the fate of the franchise. Cameron says his original plan of concluding the saga with two more films (some of which already has been shot) depends on the success of Fire and Ash. Weaver says what Cameron has planned for the fourth and fifth movies \u201cis so amazing\u201d that it would be a tragedy for the franchise to halt. \u201cAll of them are part of one big story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\n\tAdds Cameron: \u201cThis can be the last one. There\u2019s only one [unanswered question] in the story. We may find that the release of Avatar 3 proves how diminished the cinematic experience is these days, or we may find it proves the case that it\u2019s as strong as it ever was \u2014 but only for certain types of films. It\u2019s a coin toss right now. We won\u2019t know until the middle of January.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tI ask something that might sound odd: What do you want to happen? But Cameron gets the implication.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s an interesting question,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel I\u2019m at a bit of a crossroads. Do I want it to be a wild success \u2014 which almost compels me to continue and make two more Avatar movies? Or do I want it to fail just enough that I can justify doing something\u00a0else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tPART 3: \u201cSHOOOOOT!\u201d\t<\/p>\n
\n\tA few weeks back, a headline was trending on Reddit: \u201cAnyone else feel like it\u2019s an unfortunate waste of talent that James Cameron will [spend] 35+ years on Avatar?\u201d This debate has been recurring on fan forums for at least a decade.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m feeling fulfilled as an artist, and when [those critical fans] become filmmakers, they can make those types of decisions for themselves \u2014 or just stay the fuck out of it,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cIt\u2019s my decision, not yours. It\u2019s like saying, \u2018Gee, I wish she wasn\u2019t married to the same guy for so long.\u2019 It\u2019s none of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/p>\n
\n\tThat said, for the first time in years, Cameron is ready to move beyond Avatar. \u201cI\u2019ve got other stories to tell, and I\u2019ve got other stories to tell within Avatar,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat won\u2019t happen is, I won\u2019t go down the rabbit hole of exclusively making only Avatar for multiple years. I\u2019m going to figure out another way that involves more collaboration. I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m going to step away as a director, but I\u2019m going to pull back from being as hands-on with every tiny aspect of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron has gradually expanded the role of his second units and is confident they could shoulder a heavy load if another film is greenlit. Whether Disney would want another Avatar without Cameron at the helm is unclear. So is whether Cameron would allow himself to relinquish so much control of his franchise\u2019s day-to-day filming. The meticulous director treasures his Avatar playground.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re not waiting 20 minutes for the perfect sunset,\u201d Cameron likes to say, and adds: \u201cThey say, \u2018practical [filmmaking] is always better.\u2019 Practical is better in one way: It might be cheaper. But I could do the best car chase you ever saw and never put a real car on the road and you wouldn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd yet, when asked his favorite shot in his filmography, Cameron doesn\u2019t pick a scene from Avatar. He points to the sunset kiss from Titanic \u2014 where his cast and crew literally had to wait for a sunset. He retells that story with relish: The sky was murky. Nobody thought they would get the shot. Then the clouds parted, revealing a deep blooming red; a cinematic portent of romance and ruin. With only a few minutes of light to spare, Kate Winslet rushed up a ladder to the ship\u2019s bow and screamed: \u201cShoooooot!\u201d The resulting shot \u2014 just slightly out of focus \u2014 became one of the most iconic in cinema history.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tLeonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in \u2018Titanic,\u2019 1997.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20thCentFox\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron smiles at the memory. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard an actor yell at me and say, \u2018Shoooooot.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut, Jim: Would that sunset have been better \u2026 if you could have made it anything you wanted?<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s a question I\u2019ve asked myself,\u201d he admits, then pivots to explain how adding imperfection has become part of his process when making Avatar. \u201cWe strive for perfect imperfection. \u2018Let\u2019s overexpose that [shot]; let\u2019s blow it out as if I was in a hurry.\u2019 We build imperfections into the film.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis is one way digital filmmaking like on Avatar and making movies with AI actually do overlap: They both give filmmakers so much control that they avoid the headaches and limitations that come with traditional moviemaking. But they also miss the opportunities and inspirations that come from being out in the real world.<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron has been vocal about artificial intelligence. He\u2019s warned about the technology\u2019s destructive potential on a global level (you know, Skynet) and its danger to Hollywood jobs. He recently judged a New Zealand university\u2019s short-film pitch session and grew increasingly frustrated when one young filmmaker after another failed to mention their cast. He couldn\u2019t resist chiding them. \u201cThey were like, \u2018Jim Cameron\u2019s mad at us,\u2019 \u201d he says. \u201cAnd I was. I\u2019m worried there\u2019s going to be a generation that thinks they could make a movie without an actor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tYet the director also sees a business opportunity within the AI space: launching a company, or tool, that helps VFX houses become more efficient \u2014 not to replace artists or offer a \u201cmagic wand solution that can create a finished image,\u201d but one that allows professional artists to more easily manipulate imagery. Such an innovation could dramatically lower the cost of moviemaking. (Cameron has done something like this before \u2014 co-founding Digital Domain in 1993 to improve CGI.)<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPeople are not creating tools to help us in the VFX realm, they\u2019re making them for the average person,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cSo I\u2019m going to roll up my sleeves and investigate some development in that area. My other projects I want to do all require VFX. There\u2019s a certain imaginative type of filmmaking I\u2019m drawn to that is either out of this world or out of this time and place. Contemporary stuff that can just be shot on location, or on conventional sets, is not interesting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe threat of AI \u2014 along with the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and environmental destruction \u2014 has been a running theme in the director\u2019s work that goes all the way back to high school, when he wrote a save-the-planet play titled The Extinction Syndrome. Releasing Fire and Ash during a presidential administration that\u2019s unraveled environmental protections, one wonders whether Cameron is frustrated that his eco-promoting franchise hasn\u2019t had a greater impact on issues like climate change.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not frustrated that Avatar isn\u2019t solving it,\u201d says Cameron \u2014 who calls President Trump the \u201cmost narcissistic asshole in history since fucking Nero,\u201d and adds, \u201cYeah, you can quote that\u201d \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m frustrated because the human race seems to be delusional about what they think is going to happen next. We are going backwards. But who\u2019s to say we wouldn\u2019t be going backwards even faster if it wasn\u2019t for these films? There isn\u2019t an alternative Earth without Avatar we can point to and say, \u2018It made this measurable difference.\u2019 What we can say is the Avatar films are on the right side of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tPART 4: \u201cI THOUGHT, \u2018I\u2019M NEVER GOING TO WORK AGAIN\u2019 \u201d \t<\/p>\n
\n\tThere are, perhaps, more drama-filled stories surrounding Cameron than any other living filmmaker. Do you have a favorite? <\/p>\n
\n\tMaybe it\u2019s the time on The Abyss when he ran out of oxygen, a safety diver grabbed him and shoved a broken regulator full of water into his mouth, and the director punched him to escape? Or when a disgruntled caterer on Titanic spiked the production\u2019s chowder with a pound of PCP and \u2014 in the resulting mass psychosis that followed \u2014 a crewmember reportedly stabbed Cameron in the face with a pen? Or maybe it\u2019s some little-known factoid, like how Cameron secretly wrote his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s 1991 action classic Point Break? (The script is credited to W. Peter Iliff.) \u201cI wrote Point Break,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cI flat out got stiffed by the Writers Guild on that. It was bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMy favorite (like several of these, chronicled in Rebecca Keegan\u2019s excellent Cameron biography The Futurist) is one you\u2019ve likely never heard.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn The Abyss, a rat used to demonstrate the film\u2019s oxygenated water technology drowned during filming. Faced with the prospect of a dead rat \u2014 and losing the production\u2019s \u201cNo Animals Were Harmed\u201d certification \u2014 Cameron performed CPR on the rodent. The rat sprang back to life, and Cameron adopted \u201cBeady\u201d as his pet.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne can understand why a do-anything-for-the-job director like Cameron would perform mouth-to-mouse resuscitation to protect his film\u2019s reputation. But why did a man running one of the most tortuous shoots in Hollywood history, who was reportedly saying things to crewmembers like, \u201cFiring [you] is too merciful\u201d \u2026 Why did that guy open his home to a mere rat?<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBeady and I bonded over the whole thing,\u201d he says. \u201cI saved his life. We were brothers. He used to sit on my desk while I was writing Terminator 2, and he lived to a ripe old age. He didn\u2019t seem particularly traumatized, though I know the film is outlawed in the U.K. because of \u2018animal\u00a0cruelty.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n
\n\tTales of \u201cJames Cameron, the softie\u201d are, admittedly, less exciting than tales of \u201cJames Cameron, the asshole.\u201d But it\u2019s an underreported side of the filmmaker. Says Weaver: \u201cHe has always been such a sweetheart to me; I have never actually seen [his harsh side]. He\u2019s very playful, and more playful every time I work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tYou also see this side of Cameron when he talks about his late producing partner, Jon Landau, who died last year. Cameron and Landau used to connect 20 times a day. A week after the funeral, Cameron caught himself cc\u2019ing Landau on an email. Then he realized \u2026<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s like when my parents died,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cIt\u2019s like I\u2019ve got nobody left to be proud of me, or to judge me if I fuck up. There\u2019s an absence there, and there\u2019s no way to fill it. We weren\u2019t friends outside of work in the sense of always hanging out and going bowling together. He had his life, and I had mine, but we met in the work, and it was sublime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron thinks back. \u201cHe believed in Avatar more than I did. I thought, \u2018We\u2019re doomed. This is all a giant pile of shit. I\u2019m never going to work again.\u2019 And he believed in it. We used to scream at each other \u2014 well, he didn\u2019t scream. I did the screaming, but that was a long time ago. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe filmmaker resets himself. \u201cIronically, Fire and Ash itself is about loss and grief and picking up and going on and how you find hope and how you find the bonds that keep you moving forward in life. It\u2019s all in the movie.\u201d The film is dedicated to Landau.<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron\u2019s sentimental side has been critical to his success. His dialogue is often called cheesy, but a better description might be sincere. With a few comic-relief exceptions (and much of True Lies), Cameron\u2019s characters tend to be achingly earnest (critics roll their eyes at Leonardo DiCaprio shouting, \u201cI\u2019m the king of the world!\u201d as James Horner\u2019s score swells, but millions of fans felt otherwise). Cameron says he doesn\u2019t do \u201csmart-alecky\u201d dialogue, noting it\u2019s unrealistic \u2014 people in life-and-death situations aren\u2019t flinging around\u00a0wisecracks.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne moment from the 2014 documentary Deepsea Challenge captures the filmmaker in a particularly vulnerable moment. Cameron was setting a record for the first solo dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench \u2014 an incredible 6.6 miles deep \u2014 in a craft he helped design. He spoke over the sub\u2019s radio to his wife, Titanic actress Suzy Amis, and said, \u201cI love you, baby\u201d \u2014 an echo of Ed Harris\u2019 character in The Abyss messaging, \u201cI love you, wife \u2026\u201d while at the bottom of a similar trench. Cameron then added, \u201c\u2026 all the way from the heart of the ocean,\u201d referencing the Titanic\u2018s coveted diamond. It was the director\u2019s blockbuster art merging with his marriage and real-life adventures in a crazily surreal way.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tCameron pilots a submersible in the 2005 documentary \u2018Aliens of the Deep.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBuena Vista\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n
\n\tIn a rare interview about her husband, Amis recalls feeling \u201cbeyond nervous I would never see him again\u201d during that dive, but also loving that Cameron was, \u201cjust so excited; like a little kid. He\u2019d been working on it for years and you can\u2019t hold that back from somebody.\u201d Amis is a recreational pilot (\u201cmy risks are in the air; his are underwater\u201d) and describes their home life in New Zealand with their three shared children as the picture of cozy domesticity. \u201cIt\u2019s us walking around the house in socks, being voracious readers, building fires, and hanging out \u2014 after 30 years, there\u2019s never a moment we don\u2019t have something to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Cameron is back at work, however, the Angry Director of Hollywood lore still occasionally rises back to the surface.<\/p>\n
\n\tMinutes after drafting the above paragraphs about the director\u2019s warm and fuzzy side, we had a Zoom call for some follow-up questions. The director had just landed in Paris after days of press junkets and looked exhausted. Then I asked a non-Avatar question.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAll I want to talk about is Fire and Ash,\u201d Cameron snaps. \u201cIf we go beyond that, this [interview] is going to get real short, real quick. The Way of Water and Fire and Ash were 10 years of my life. Why would I want to talk about anything else? That\u2019s dumb. Do you honestly believe you\u2019ve heard even more than one-tenth of one percent of what could be said about this project?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen I explained this story is a broad look at the director, Cameron fires back: \u201cIs this a profile you\u2019re writing? I hate fucking\u00a0profiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tPART 5: \u201cI WANT TO DO NEW STUFF THAT PEOPLE AREN\u2019T IMAGINING.\u201d\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron won\u2019t reveal his next project \u2014 and he might even be unsure himself \u2014 but will give intriguing hints.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn addition to co-directing Billie Eilish\u2019s upcoming 3D concert documentary, Hit Me Hard and Soft, Cameron has another globe-trotting documentary adventure in the works, the details of which are under wraps.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis next narrative film probably won\u2019t be Ghosts of Hiroshima, which has generated considerable press after Cameron acquired the rights to Charles Pellegrino\u2019s book chronicling the true story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who in 1945 survived the nuclear blasts at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Cameron promised Yamaguchi on his deathbed in 2010 that he\u2019d make\u00a0the\u00a0film.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe postapocalypse is not going to be the fun that it is in science fiction,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to have mutants and monsters and all sorts of cool stuff. It\u2019s hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron says \u201ca lot of people\u201d in the industry have stepped forward wanting to help make Ghosts, but there\u2019s no script yet. I point out that even if Cameron employs an army of Japanese talent to ensure the film is authentic \u2014 which is his plan \u2014 he\u2019ll likely still get some backlash for being a white filmmaker telling that story.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFuck \u2019em, I don\u2019t care,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cI\u2019m going to tell this story \u2014 because why? Because nobody else is doing it. If you want to haul off and make the film, I\u2019ll hand you the book. But nobody\u2019s putting their hand up to do this. It\u2019ll probably be the least-attended movie I ever make. It\u2019s not a pretty sight what a nuclear bomb does to human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCameron first portrayed the apocalypse in his 1984 debut, The Terminator, a franchise he\u2019s quietly working on revisiting. \u201cOnce the dust clears on Avatar in a couple of months, I\u2019m going to really plunge into that,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are a lot of narrative problems to solve. The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what\u2019s really happening to make it science fiction?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAsked whether he\u2019s cracked the premise, Cameron replies, \u201cI\u2019m working on it,\u201d but his sly smile suggests that he has. The result will be the first Terminator film Cameron has been involved in that won\u2019t star Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI can safely say he won\u2019t be [in it],\u201d Cameron says. \u201cIt\u2019s time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in [2019\u2019s] Terminator: Dark Fate, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of Terminator and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren\u2019t imagining.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen I mention Noah Hawley\u2019s AI-themed reinvention of the Alien franchise with Alien: Earth, Cameron praises the FX drama as \u201cgreat; a lot of fun,\u201d but notes it leaned on the first two Alien films, and that doing fan-friendly callbacks is \u201cwhat I\u2019m not going to do\u201d with Terminator. \u201cI\u2019m not criticizing it, but I was there for Aliens, what, 41 years ago? Something like that wouldn\u2019t be of interest to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe things that scare you the most are exactly the things you should be doing,\u201d Cameron declares. \u201cNobody should be operating artistically from a comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd that, right there, is perhaps Cameron\u2019s best reason for expanding beyond Avatar. There are all sorts of grueling new problems just waiting to be solved, and the 71-year-old has no shortage of energy \u2014 partly crediting his vegan diet, which he adopted for sustainability reasons: \u201cI\u2019m eating the way the rest of the human race is going to have to eat in 50 years or we don\u2019t\u00a0survive.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI stay active, I kickbox two or three times per week,\u201d he continues. \u201cI look at other people my age, and it\u2019s like they\u2019re just punching a clock, waiting to go. I have ideas more than I could ever act on in a lifetime. I got shit to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tThom Sweeney suit, shirt;
\nCameron\u2019s own Rolex watch,
\njewelry.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/p>\n
\n\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part 1: \u201cThat\u2019s the Most Bullshit Thing in History\u201d James Cameron was in trouble. The filmmaker was in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[32160,93,61,60,32161,270,104766,95750,43986],"class_list":{"0":"post-196616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-james-cameron","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-thr-cover-story","15":"tag-thr-original-video","16":"tag-titanic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}