James Cameron doesn’t regret being an asshole in the 1980s: “That’s what got things done”
When it comes to commercial success, there isn’t a director who could even remotely be compared to James Cameron, who has directed three of the five highest-grossing films of all-time with Avatar: The Way of Water, Titanic, and Avatar, which still holds the top spot.
His latest, Avatar: Fire and Ash, was no disappointment either, and it continued to show that there was interest in the world of Pandora and the Na’vi.
Cameron’s exploration of the original world of the Avatar franchise didn’t occur overnight, as he was responsible for some of the most groundbreaking achievements in special effects within blockbuster films of the 1980s and ‘90s with The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and True Lies. While there’s yet to be a film that hasn’t been celebrated by both moviegoers and those in the industry, he’s never had the reputation of being someone who is particularly easy to work with.
To be fair, Cameron has never been accused of harassment or misconduct in the way that so many other powerful men in Hollywood have, but he just happens to be a very demanding collaborator who asks a lot of his employees, which makes sense considering how high the stakes have been for each and every one of his projects. However, he has rejected the notion that he is “famously” difficult.
“Famously is not the same as actually,” Cameron claimed, “I’m not!… I’m a lot more experienced, and there’s been a series of evolutions on that. I was an asshole in the ’80s, absolutely, and you know what? That’s what got things done.”
While the director did not apologise for the reported difficulties on the sets of films like The Abyss and True Lies, he did indicate that he had mellowed out and become more comfortable with his stature within the industry, thanks to the Avatar series.
“That’s what needed to happen then, but once you have some stature, you have some responsibility to play within a system and respect other people’s viewpoints and their needs and all that,” he said, adding, “People are putting up hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re your partner, you’ve got to honour them.”
Cameron certainly takes his obligations to deliver on expectations seriously, which is seen in the prolonged production of the Avatar sequels. While it would have been easy for him to have slapped together a plot to quickly capitalise on the highest-grossing film of all time, he spent time developing the world of his two-part follow-up to explore different vistas on the planet of Pandora and introduce new generations of Jake Sully’s family. The work done to develop advancements within computer-generated imagery and motion capture certainly paid off, as even the most vehement Avatar critic can’t deny the films are visually stunning.
Whether he will be given more opportunities to refine his behaviour remains to be seen, and while it may seem unthinkable for anyone but him to make the potential fourth and fifth Avatar films, given that Cameron is 71 years old, he may need to consider whether he wants to dedicate another decade of his life to such a demanding project.
