James Cameron is the handyman of the film industry. Aside from being the mastermind behind Titanic, The Terminator, and Avatar, Cameron is possibly the only film director that can erect a shelf for you, legally drive a truck, as well as possessing extensive knowledge of a building’s maintenance. He’s built and piloted submarines, helped create new cameras and digital technology, oversaw the construction of entire cities, and opened his own school. A jack-of-all-trades, Cameron’s virtuosity extends to his creation of film too.
His journey to becoming a directorial legend has been as fascinating as it has been random. From truck-driving and janitorial work, to being a set dresser’s assistant and, of course, directing some of the biggest movie stars in the world. However, as is common in the film industry, facts have the tendency to often be stranger than fiction, and in James Cameron’s case, the man with two first names, this certainly rings true… Having lived a truly extraordinary life, and whose marital history resembles something closely akin to Henry VIII’s (minus the beheadings), what better way to get to know the Avatar director than by exploring some of his wildest real-life facts.
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James Cameron’s Academy Awards
Paramount Pictures
The director’s filmography has amassed a staggering total of 41 Academy Award nominations, and 21 Academy Award wins, with Titanic romping to a record-breaking 11 triumphs.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is
Procuring funding for a movie can often be like pulling teeth, yet for his first ever short film, Xenogenesis, Cameron remarkably acquired financial backing from a rich, Hollywood dentist practice. He was able to raise $20,000 for the short film from dentists, and the project eventually led to Roger Corman taking notice. The rest is history.
James Cameron is Tech-Savvy
20th Century Studios
Cameron actually penned Avatar in 1995, 14 years before the movie’s release. This was due to his insistence that he would wait for the appropriate technology to be created before the film could go into production. Similarly, the upcoming sequel to Avatar took so long for many technological reasons, including its extensive use of CGI and underwater filmmaking.
Cameron Dreamed a Dream
Orion Pictures
Nightmares are an unpleasant experience at the best of times, but if everyone’s subconscious could muster up the plot to The Terminator, we may be haunted, but at least we’d be rich. James Cameron has revealed how the plot of the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit came to him in a nightmare. Avatar was also purportedly inspired by a dream Cameron had as a little boy.
Hitting Rock-Bottom with the Titanic
Cameron’s passion for deep-sea diving led him to the wreckage of the Titanic, which had been sitting atop the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean for over 80 years. The Canadian director was fascinated by the disaster and by the discovery of the ship’s wreckage in 1985, and felt obligated to visit ahead of shooting Titanic, capturing footage of the actual Titanic in the process. Cameron has revisited the “unsinkable” ship over the years, having incredible submarines and camera equipment created for his gorgeous documentary Ghosts of the Abyss.
That’s What Friends are for… Kinda
Gage Skidmore / Flickr
After director Guillermo Del Toro’s father was kidnapped for 72 days in Mexico, a ransom had been placed on his head for $1 million. As Del Toro’s friend and fellow director, James Cameron took it upon himself to withdraw the demanded cash from his own personal bank account, and pay the ransom to secure the release of Del Toro’s father. He was released, but the money was never returned, nor were the kidnappers ever found.
Educational Veganism
Cameron and his wife Suzy founded the first vegan K-12 school, Muse, situated in California. As well as physical schooling, it now offers virtual courses in all 50 states across America.
Cameron’s 13-year Vacation
20th Century Fox
Cameron seemed to have disappeared, with a filmmaking hiatus of 13 years ever since his last movie, Avatar. That’s all about to change though, as Cameron has been working on several sequels in the past decade, and the first sequel Avatar: The Way of Water hits our screens in December 2022.
King-of-All-Trades
20th Century Studios
James Cameron was the first director to make a movie with a $100 million budget (True Lies), and he wrote, edited, and directed two of the three highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar (at number one) and Titanic (at number three), with the movies sharing a combined total of over $5 billion. Despite being released over 13 years ago, Avatar has yet to be eclipsed as the highest-grossing movie ever; could that finally be broken by the sequel?
Star-Struck Introduction to Movie-Making
In part, Cameron has George Lucas to thank for his career in filmmaking, as it was only when Cameron watched Star Wars at the cinema that he was so inspired, he decided to quit his day job as a truck driver and pursue his dream of making films.
I Need a Dollar
TriStar Pictures
The Terminator is undeniably one of the best sci-fi movies of the 1980s, so you’d be forgiven for assuming Cameron’s script would have been worth a substantial sum… Think again — the Aliens creator sold his screenplay for just $1. He was living out of his car, and when Gale Anne Hurd (a producer for New World Pictures, and one of Cameron’s future wives) expressed interest, he sold the script for four quarters under the obligation that he would direct.
All’s Fair in Love and War
Voltage Pictures
In 2010, Cameron was up against his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, for the Best Director Academy Award, with him representing Avatar and her The Hurt Locker. Kathryn went on to claim the prize as the first woman to win that Oscar… nothing quite like a (un)healthy rivalry.
Familiar Surroundings
Xenogenesis was Cameron’s introductory, 12-minute short that helped propel him into the cinematic limelight, ultimately giving him his first start. Not only did he acquire a loan from a local dentist, but he shot the movie in his own living room. While it’s a messy project, it contains the artistic seeds for his work in Aliens and Avatar. You can watch the lo-fi short below.
