Making every director shortlist one name shorter...

Acclaimed, Oscar-winning, box office record breaking director James Cameron recently summed up the planned rest of his career as follows:

“So I’m not interested in developing anything. I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it. I’m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them.”

So, apart from the news that there may (eventually) be a fourth Avatar film, this presumably means that James Cameron won’t be making Battle Angel, or working with his Dark Angel star Jessica Alba again (unless he casts her in one of the Avatar sequels), or making another TV series (unless it’s an Avatar one, which at this stage would seem prohibitively expensive). It would also rule out Cameron's involvement in any follow-ups to his previous movies, such as a True Lies sequel, another Terminator film, or anything in the Alien/Prometheus franchise. James Cameron did, however, tell Arnold Schwarzenegger that Terminator 5 should focus on the T-800, even though Cameron won’t be involved.

James Cameron has produced other people's movies in the past, with the most recent being director Andrew Adamson’s Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, which has already been completed, according to IMDb, and is set for release on December 21, 2012, but it seems that will be the last

Refusing to produce other people’s movies might seem a little lacking in altruism, especially considering the generosity of filmmakers like Peter Jackson (who executive produced Neill Blomkamp’s feature directorial debut District 9) and Guillermo del Toro in this area. However, if you’re a popular director, maybe being asked to produce people’s movies is a bit like being asked to read people’s scripts as a screenwriter. Except if you do agree, it’s far more time-consuming. Also, James Cameron has a singular level of focus, throwing himself into the projects he’s passionate about. While this can reportedly make him difficult to work with on set, his perfectionism and genuine emotional attachment to the story are two of the things that make him one of the greatest filmmakers in the world.

Another is his sheer skill in directing action. As The Avengers director Joss Whedon says,

“You know, for me Cameron is the leader and the teacher and the Yoda, because I don’t know anybody who delineates action as well as he does and it’s always about he shows you the parameters, he shows you the problem, and then he shows you the attempt at the solution and he makes the problem worse. It’s a real understanding of cinematic space in his movies and for me it’s kind of dazzling.”

And similarly, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird says,

“That’s why a lot of those [Cameron’s] action scenes feel so visceral, is that they’re incredibly well-thought-out.”

He also says that James Cameron is “incredibly precise about directing your eye from one shot to the next”, and that’s why Avatar’s 3D is so much more effective than other people’s.

Incidentally, James Cameron shares the illustrious honour, along with George Orwell, of having (had) a Summer Glau character named after him. (And along with the likes of Mr. River and Mr. Bennett, but who knows what they’re famous for. With the latter, it’s probably just for being a great character in Heroes…)

Empire Online

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