James Cameron
James Francis Cameron CC (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era. He often uses novel technologies with a classical filmmaking style. He first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator (1984) and found further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), as well as Avatar (2009) and its sequels. He directed, wrote, co-produced, and co-edited Titanic (1997), winning three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. He is a recipient of various other industry accolades, and three of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
This article is about the Canadian filmmaker. For other people, see James Cameron (disambiguation).
James Cameron
- Film director
- screenwriter
- producer
- editor
- philanthropist
- sea explorer
1978–present
4
Cameron co-founded the production companies Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Earthship Productions. In addition to filmmaking, he is a National Geographic sea tourist and has produced many documentaries on the subject, including Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and Aliens of the Deep (2005). Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies and helped create the digital 3D Fusion Camera System. In 2012, Cameron became the first person to do a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.
Cameron's films have grossed over $8 billion worldwide, making him the second-highest-grossing film director of all time. Three of Cameron's films are amongst the top four highest-grossing films of all time; Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Titanic (1997) are the highest, third-highest and fourth-highest-grossing films of all time, respectively.[1] Cameron directed the first film to gross over $1 billion, the first two films to gross over $2 billion, and is the only director to have had three films gross over $2 billion.[2][3] In 2010, Time named Cameron one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Cameron is also an environmentalist and runs several sustainability businesses.
Early life[edit]
James Francis Cameron[4] was born on August 16, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, to Philip Cameron, an electrical engineer, and Shirley (née Lowe), an artist and nurse.[5] He is the first of five children, with two brothers and two sisters.[5] His paternal great-great-great-grandfather emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825.[5] Cameron spent summers on his grandfather's farm in southern Ontario.[6] He attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls. At age 17, Cameron and his family moved from Chippawa to Brea, California.[7] He attended Sonora High School and then moved to Brea Olinda High School. Classmates recalled that he was not a sportsman but instead enjoyed building things that "either went up into the air or into the deep".[8]
After high school, Cameron enrolled at Fullerton College, a community college in 1973 to study physics. He switched subjects to English, but left the college at the end of 1974.[9] Cameron worked odd jobs, including as a truck driver and a high school janitor. He drank beer, frequently consumed cannabis and LSD, and wrote in his free time.[10][11] During this period, he learned about special effects by reading other students' work on "optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology" at the USC library.[12] After the excitement of seeing Star Wars in 1977, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry.[13]
Personal life[edit]
Cameron has been married five times.[132] He was married to Sharon Williams from 1978 to 1984. A year after he and Williams divorced, Cameron married film producer Gale Anne Hurd, a close collaborator for his 1980s films. They divorced in 1989. Soon after separating from Hurd, Cameron met the director Kathryn Bigelow, whom he wed in 1989; they divorced in 1991. Cameron then began a relationship with Linda Hamilton, the lead actress in The Terminator series. Their daughter was born in 1993. Cameron married Hamilton in 1997. Amid speculation of an affair between Cameron and actress Suzy Amis, Cameron and Hamilton separated after two years of marriage, with Hamilton receiving a settlement of $50 million.[133][134][135] He married Amis, his fifth wife, in 2000. They have one son and two daughters together.[136]
Cameron applied for American citizenship in 2004, but withdrew his application after George W. Bush won the presidential election.[137] Cameron resided in the United States, but after filming Avatar in New Zealand, Cameron bought a home and a farm there in 2012.[138][139][140] He divided his time between Malibu, California and New Zealand until 2020,[141] after which he sold his Malibu home and decided to live in New Zealand permanently.[142] He said in August 2020: "I plan to make all my future films in New Zealand, and I see the country having an opportunity to demonstrate to the international film industry how to safely return to work. Doing so with Avatar [sequels] will be a beacon that, when this is over [COVID-19 pandemic], will attract more production to New Zealand and continue to stimulate the screen industry and the economy for years."[143][144]
Cameron is an atheist; he formerly associated himself with agnosticism, a stance he said he had come to see as "cowardly atheism."[57] Since 2011, he is vegan.[145] Cameron met close friend Guillermo del Toro on the production of his 1993 film, Cronos.[146] In 1998, del Toro's father Federico was kidnapped in Guadalajara and Cameron gave del Toro more than $1 million (equivalent to $1,744,000 in 2023) in cash to pay a ransom and have his father released.[146][147][148] Cameron had been friends with Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet for over 25 years before the latter's death.[149]
Cameron had a strong interest in visiting the space stations Mir and International Space Station (ISS).[150] He spent the summer of 2000 in Moscow getting ready for a potential trip to space, and was offered an opportunity to go by NASA.[150][151] However, the trip did not include a visit to the space station, so he declined the offer as it did not align with his terms. The shuttle flight he turned down was the tragic 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Cameron attended the memorial service for the victims of the disaster.[150]
In June 2013, British artist Roger Dean filed a copyright complaint against Cameron, seeking damages of $50 million (equivalent to $64,500,000 in 2023).[152] Relating to Avatar, Cameron was accused of "wilful and deliberate copying, dissemination and exploitation" of Dean's original images; the case was dismissed by US district judge Jesse Furman in 2014.[153] In 2016, Premier Exhibitions, owner of many RMS Titanic artifacts, filed for bankruptcy. Cameron supported the UK's National Maritime Museum and National Museums Northern Ireland decision to bid for the artifacts, but they were acquired by an investment group before a formal bid took place.[154][155]
Filmmaking style[edit]
Themes[edit]
Cameron's films are often based on themes which explore the conflicts between intelligent machines and humanity or nature,[156][157] dangers of corporate greed,[158] strong female characters, and a romance subplot.[159] Cameron has further stated in an interview with The Talks, "All my movies are love stories."[160] Both Titanic and Avatar are noted for featuring star-crossed lovers.[161] Characters suffering from emotionally intense and dramatic environments in the sea wilderness are explored in The Abyss and Titanic. The Terminator series amplifies technology as an enemy which could lead to devastation of mankind. Similarly, Avatar views tribal people as an honest group, whereas a "technologically advanced imperial culture is fundamentally evil".[162][163]