- Born
- Birth nameJames Francis Cameron
- Nicknames
- Iron Jim
- Jim
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing,
Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an
engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out.
He then drove a truck to support his screenwriting ambition.
He landed his first professional film job as art director,
miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on
Roger Corman's
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
and had his first experience as a director with a two week stint on
Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)
before being fired.
He then wrote and directed
The Terminator (1984), a
futuristic action-thriller starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Michael Biehn and
Linda Hamilton. It was a low budget independent film, but Cameron's superb, dynamic direction made it a surprise mainstream success and it is now regarded as one of the most iconic pictures of the 1980s. After this came a string of successful, bigger budget science-fiction action
films such as Aliens (1986),
The Abyss (1989) and
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
In 1990, Cameron formed his own production company, Lightstorm
Entertainment. In 1997, he wrote and directed
Titanic (1997), a romance epic about two
young lovers from different social classes who meet on board the famous ship. The
movie went on to break all box office records and earned eleven Academy
Awards. It became the highest grossing movie of all time until 12 years later,
Avatar (2009), which invented and pioneered 3D film
technology, and it went on to beat "Titanic", and
became the first film to cost two billion dollars
until 2019 when Marvel took the record.
James Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in
Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer
Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of
his films. In 2000, he married actress
Suzy Amis, who appeared in Titanic, and they
have three children.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dorian House
- SpousesSuzy Amis(June 4, 2000 - present) (3 children)Linda Hamilton(July 26, 1997 - December 16, 1999) (divorced, 1 child)Kathryn Bigelow(August 17, 1989 - November 10, 1991) (divorced)Gale Anne Hurd(1985 - 1989) (divorced)Sharon Williams(February 14, 1978 - July 14, 1984) (divorced)
- ChildrenClaire CameronElizabeth Rose CameronJosephine Archer CameronJames Quinn Cameron
- ParentsShirley CameronPhillip Cameron
- RelativesMike Cameron(Sibling)John David Cameron(Sibling)Sibling(Sibling)Sibling(Sibling)
- Strong female characters
- Frequently casts Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- His films frequently feature scenes filmed in deep blues
- Plots or events involving nuclear explosions or wars
- Likes to make nice/effective cuts
- After seeing Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Cameron quit his job as a truck
driver to enter the film industry. - While editing Titanic (1997), Cameron had a razor blade taped to
the side of the editing computer with the instructions written
underneath: "Use only if film sucks!". - Married one of his producers and two of his actresses.
- A magazine article written about him in the 1980s described how he had
three desks set up in his house. At one desk, he was writing the script
to The Terminator (1984), on another, he was finishing the script to Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and on
the third, he was writing Aliens (1986). - Jokingly refers to Titanic (1997) as his 190 Million Dollar "Chick Flick".
- People call me a perfectionist, but I'm not. I'm a rightist. I do
something until it's right, and then I move on to the next thing. - ...you can read all the books about filmmaking, all the articles in American Cinematographer and that sort of thing, but you have to really see how it works on a day-to-day basis, and how to pace your energy so that you can survive the film, which was a lesson that took me a long time to learn.
- I was petrified at the start of The Terminator (1984). First of all, I was working with a star, at least I thought of him as a star at the time. Arnold came out of it even more a star.
- I went from driving a truck to becoming a movie director, with a little
time working with Roger Corman in between. When I wrote The Terminator (1984), I sold the rights at that time - that was my shot to get the film made. So I've never owned the rights in the time that the franchise has been
developed. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to direct the second
film and do so on my own creative terms, which was good. But that was
in 1991 and I've felt like it was time to move on. The primary reason
for making a third one was financial, and that didn't strike me as
organic enough a reason to be making a film. - Well, I see our potential destruction and the potential salvation as
human beings coming from technology and how we use it, how we master it
and how we prevent it from mastering us. Titanic (1997) was as much about that theme as the Terminator films, and in Aliens (1986), it's the reliance on technology that defeats the marines, but it's technology being used properly that allows Sigourney's character to prevail at the end. And Titanic (1997) is all about technology, metaphorically as well as on a literal level, because the world was being transformed by the technology at that time. And people were rescued from the Titanic because of wireless technology, and because of the advances that had been made only in the year or so before the ship sank that allowed them to call for help when they were lost at sea in the middle of the North Atlantic. So I think it's an interesting theme, one that's always been fascinating for me...
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) - $92,000,000
- Avatar (2009) - $350,000,000
- Titanic (1997) - $115,000,000 ($600k for screenplay + $8m salary + backend participation)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - $6,000,000
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