James Cameron names the most influential filmmaker of his era: “Who I still aspire to be”
There is a core group of modern filmmakers who have reached typically unreachable heights through their films, appealing to vast commercial audiences and breaking global box office records. From the gargantuan influence of Christopher Nolan with Inception and Oppenheimer to the unprecedented impact of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, today’s leading directors continue to push boundaries and redefine the parameters of success.
However, as they make increasingly expensive films, it becomes borderline impossible for independent cinema to survive in their shadow.
Of course, James Cameron took this to new levels in 1997, following in the footsteps of his hero with Titanic, which forever changed cinema as we know it. While Steven Spielberg might appear to be an obvious influence on this cinema style, Cameron listed one other filmmaker who most inspired his ‘go big or go home’ philosophy.
Ridley Scott has made a couple of good pictures throughout his prolonged time in Hollywood. Thelma and Louise and Alien are both cult classic films that have terrified and endeared global audiences, finding a devoted fan base and sparking one of the most successful action franchises of all time. While he is revered for his immersive visual style, his work has taken a massive tumble in recent years, with films like House of Gucci, Gladiator II and Napoleon highlighting his glaring inability to create stories or characters with depth, resulting in bloated and boring piles of slop.
While his story worlds are innovative and certainly imaginative, his recent plots couldn’t be further from those qualities, representing a new style of cinema in which style is favoured over substance and profit is pursued over creative integrity.
In some way, it is understandable why Ridley Scott remains Cameron’s favourite director, with both aspiring to push the idea of commercial filmmaking and wanting to earn as much money as possible by making hollow spectacles that capitalize on the idea of technical innovation. When describing his love for Scott, Cameron said, “I don’t think there’s a filmmaker of my generation or subsequently who wasn’t vastly influenced by Ridley. To see ‘Alien’ on opening night in 70mm was to feel you were on that spaceship, and no one had ever done that in science fiction before.”
Cameron continues by highlighting the visual accomplishments of his work, which is arguably the aspect that holds his films together, with the stories completely crumbling in comparison. “Ridley has continued to be someone I admire more than almost any other director out there. Even his minor films I’ll see as promptly as I can, and his major films — his spectacles, or whenever he deigns to do something again in science-fiction — I’ll be first in line. Here’s a guy who’s been vigorous across five decades, and is still going strong. Ridley is who I still aspire to be.”
Christopher Nolan and Cameron have both described their admiration for Scott, perfectly reflecting their empty style of cinema that is created for no purpose other than to distract audiences instead of enrich their lives in a substantial way, lacking in emotion/depth and allowing cinema to become a masturbatory wank fest for directors to flex their power and oversized budgets.
