History Creator / JamesCameron

Cameron's films have certain common traits, such as: use of recurring cast members (such as Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SigourneyWeaver, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and StanWinston [[note]]A lifelong friend, he was the genius puppeteer and makeup master who helped bring James' Terminators and Alien Queen to life.[[/note]]), the threat of nuclear war, the interaction between humanity and technology, shiny glowy aliens, and [[ActionGirl strong female characters]]. He is also infamous for his temper and dictatorial filming style (the crew on some of his movies wore t-shirts reading "You can't scare me, I work for Jim Cameron"), along with his tendency to go way over budget and schedule during production.

His first exposure to filmmaking came while he attended the California State University in Fullerton, from where he'd frequently visit the film archive of UCLA. After dropping out he took a variety of jobs and wrote in his spare time. Inspired by a viewing of StarWars in 1977, he decided to enter the film industry. He began as a miniature model maker with RogerCorman's studio, and later ended up as special effects director on JohnCarpenter's ''EscapeFromNewYork''. He was hired to do special effects for ''[[{{Piranha}} Piranha II: The Spawning]]'' in 1981, but ended up in the director's seat after the first director abandoned the project. After arriving at the studio, he discovered that the movie was under-financed and that a majority of the crew were Italians who couldn't speak English.

Cameron did not make a movie for twelve years after ''Titanic''. Instead, he created the TV series ''DarkAngel'', filmed various undersea documentaries and produced the adaptation of ''Literature/{{Solaris}}''. He returned to film in 2009 with the science fiction epic ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', which has surpassed even ''Titanic'', financially and controversially. He is currently working on the sequel for Avatar, due out in 2016.

* ''Terminator2JudgementDay'' (1991)

James Francis Cameron (born 16 August 1954) is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] director, producer and screenwriter famous for ''TheTerminator'' franchise, ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' and the blockbusters ''{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]]

After ''Terminator 2'', Cameron started pursuing projects in different genres compared to the science fiction/action films he did previously. His first such project was ''TrueLies'', a remake of the French comedy ''La Totale'' which had been suggested by Schwarzenegger. Much like ''The Abyss'', the film was a blockbuster success but once again drew a lukewarm critical reaction.

-->--''The James Cameron Song'' from the '''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

* ''TheTerminator'' (1984)
* ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' (1986)
* ''TheAbyss'' (1989)
* ''Terminator 2: Judgement Day'' (1991)
* ''TrueLies'' (1994)
* ''{{Titanic}}'' (1997)

* InsufferableGenius: He has created several of the best-reviewed and/or highest-grossing movies of all time and left an indelible mark on cinema. However, his creative talent is matched only by his infamous penchant for narcissism and douchebaggery.

-->--''The James Cameron Song'' from the '''SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

* AuteurLicense: He got his with ''TheTerminator''. It has yet to be revoked, seeing as how he makes rather a habit of revolutionizing filmmaking and grinding box-office records into the dust.

-->--''The James Cameron Song'' in the '''SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

[[caption-width-right:350:James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is... James Cameron.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. James Cameron does what James Cameron does because he '''is''' James Cameron.]]

Cameron next worked on a sequel to Ridley Scott's ''Film/{{Alien}}'', a film he was a big fan of. While filming in England, he repeatedly clashed with the crew, who considered him a poor substitute for Scott, especially over their practice of taking regular breaks that slowed down production and their taunting of his wife's role as producer. This caused initial cinematographer [[UnfortunateNames Dick Bush]] to be fired after about a month over CreativeDifferences, to be replaced by Adrian Biddle. The dispute culminated in a walkout after Cameron fired a cameraman due to a clash over lighting the xenomorph nest [[hottip:* :said cameraman thought it would be a brilliant idea to have the nest really bright and visible and ruin the suspense]]; Cameron's wife managed to persuade the crew to return to work. These repeated disruptions forced the crew to work at a breakneck pace to finish the film before its release date, and composer JamesHorner was forced to write the score without seeing the completed film and record it in an outdated studio in about four days. Due to the lack of time, Horner was forced to reuse some motifs from previous scores, and Cameron had to hack it in editing to match the film without any input because Horner was busy elsewhere.

In spite of the troubled production and ExecutiveMeddling which resulted in the removal of some footage for the theatrical edition [[hottip:* :expository scenes of Hadley's Hope and Ripley's backstory were thrown out, the {{Action Film Quiet Drama Scene}}s with Ripley and Newt were shortened; Sigourney Weaver wasn't happy about this, but luckily all those scenes were restored for the DirectorsCut]], ''Aliens'' went on to become another huge success, receiving universal critical acclaim (being constantly referred to as an EvenBetterSequel), a cover and article dedicated to it in Time Magazine and a total profit of $131 million worldwide. ''Aliens'' also holds the distinction of being the first science fiction movie to gather seven AcademyAward nominations, including Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver, and even picking up Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Sound Effects Editing, in a period when science fiction movies were largely ignored and not taken seriously by the Academy.

Cameron's films have certain common traits, such as: use of recurring cast members (such as Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SigourneyWeaver, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and StanWinston [[hottip:*:A lifelong friend, he was the genius puppeteer and makeup master who helped bring James' Terminators and Alien Queen to life.]]), the threat of nuclear war, the interaction between humanity and technology, shiny glowy aliens, and [[ActionGirl strong female characters]]. He is also infamous for his temper and dictatorial filming style (the crew on some of his movies wore t-shirts reading "You can't scare me, I work for Jim Cameron"), along with his tendency to go way over budget and schedule during production.

->''"His name is James Cameron! The bravest pioneer! No budget too steep, no sea to deep. Who’s that? It’s him! James Cameron!"''

->"His name is James Cameron! The bravest pioneer! No budget too steep, no sea to deep. Who’s that? It’s him! James Cameron!"

->''"His name is James Cameron! The bravest pioneer! No budget too steep, no sea to deep. Who’s that? It’s him! James Cameron!"''
-->-- "The James Cameron Song" in the '''SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

-->-- ''The James Cameron Song'' in the '''SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

->''"His name is James(James) Cameron! The bravest pioneer! No budget to steep, no sea to deep. Who’s that? It’s him! James Cameron!"''

-->-- ''The James Cameron Song'' from the '''SouthPark''' episode "Raising the Bar"

->''"Cameron made three movies in the 90's--[[{{Terminator}} Terminator 2]], TrueLies, and {{Titanic}}. He's very good at making money."''
-->-- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick'''

->''Cameron made three movies in the 90's--[[{{Terminator}} Terminator 2]], TrueLies, and {{Titanic}}. He's very good at making money.''
--> -- '''TheNostalgiaChick'''

* BadBoss \ PrimaDonnaDirector: He admits to being this, but his crew has said that he has started to mellow out. To show how it got even worse for the people who work with Cameron, most of his movies have entries at TroubledProduction.

** Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is however known as very nice and kind off set and never asks any cast or crew to do anything he would not do himself

Cameron did not make a movie for twelve years after ''Titanic''. Instead, he created the TV series ''DarkAngel'', filmed various undersea documentaries and produced the adaptation of ''Literature/{{Solaris}}''. He returned to film in 2009 with ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', which has surpassed even ''Titanic'', financially and controversially. He is currently working on the sequel for Avatar, due out in 2016.

James Francis Cameron (born 16 August 1954) is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] director, producer and screenwriter famous for ''TheTerminator'' franchise, ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' and the blockbusters ''{{Titanic}}'' and ''{{Film/Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]]

His first exposure to filmmaking came while he attended the California State University in Fullerton, from where he'd frequently visit the film archive of UCLA. After dropping out he took a variety of jobs and wrote in his spare time. Inspired by a viewing of StarWars in 1977, he decided to enter the film industry. He began as a miniature model maker with {{Roger Corman}}'s studio, and later ended up as special effects director on {{John Carpenter}}'s ''EscapeFromNewYork''. He was hired to do special effects for ''[[{{Piranha}} Piranha II: The Spawning]]'' in 1981, but ended up in the director's seat after the first director abandoned the project. After arriving at the studio, he discovered that the movie was under-financed and that a majority of the crew were Italians who couldn't speak English.

During the predictably torturous filming of ''Piranha II'', Cameron had a nightmare about a robot hitman sent from the future to kill him. Based on this, he wrote the script for ''TheTerminator'', lifting story material from HarlanEllison's ''OuterLimits'' stories "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier." When no production company wanted to let him direct, Cameron founded Helmdale Productions and persuaded Orion Pictures to distribute the film. A relatively low-budget film at $6.5 million, ''TheTerminator'' became a success, grossing a total of $78 million worldwide while gathering positive reviews and providing a BreakthroughHit for the creator and a [[StarMakingRole breakout role]] for ArnoldSchwarzenegger as the titular murderous cyborg. Meanwhile, Ellison noticed the plagiarism and successfully sued for some money and an acknowledgment in the film's credits. Meanwhile Cameron was involved in writing a draft for ''Rambo: First Blood Part II'', which was heavily modified for the film.

The director's next major project was a movie based on the sinking of the Titanic, a subject he had been interested in for a long time. Thanks to his obsessive [[ShownTheirWork attention to detail]], the production ran massively overbudget and overschedule. Eventually released in December 1997, ''Titanic'' became the film with the largest box office gross in history, a record that has since been broken by Cameron's next film ''{{Film/Avatar}}''. The movie also won Cameron his first Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture. However, this movie is the LoveItOrHateIt entry in Cameron's body of work, polarizing fans severely, which gets worse if one is a fan of the ''Terminator'' films and ''Aliens''. The result is a real BrokenBase, largely between the OldGuardVersusNewBlood of fandom - fans of his previous sci-fi action movies on the one hand, and the younger, more female audience he attracted that wasn't familliar with his previous works on the other. The critical reception was similarly mixed, and it has since become practically DeaderThanDisco for its [[{{Melodrama}} melodramatic]], sentimentalism and [[RomanticPlotTumor excessive focus on the romantic aspect of the story]], only useful as a target for parodies and jokes.

Cameron did not make a movie for twelve years after ''Titanic''. Instead, he created the TV series ''DarkAngel'', filmed various undersea documentaries and produced the adaptation of ''Literature/{{Solaris}}''. He returned to film in 2009 with ''{{Film/Avatar}}'', which has surpassed even ''Titanic'', financially and controversially. He is currently working on the sequel for Avatar, due out in 2016.

Cameron's films have certain common traits, such as: use of recurring cast members (such as ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SigourneyWeaver, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and StanWinston [[hottip:*:A lifelong friend, he was the genius puppeteer and makeup master who helped bring James' Terminators and Alien Queen to life.]]), the threat of nuclear war, the interaction between humanity and technology, shiny glowy aliens, and [[ActionGirl strong female characters]]. He is also infamous for his temper and dictatorial filming style (the crew on some of his movies wore t-shirts reading "You can't scare me, I work for Jim Cameron"), along with his tendency to go way over budget and schedule during production.

As of ''{{Film/Avatar}}'', he is the first director in history to have made ''two'' individual films to earn over a billion dollars '''each''' (the other being ''{{Titanic}}''); something that not even the multimedia titan GeorgeLucas can stake a claim to with his entire ''StarWars'' series of films. Also as of ''Avatar'', Cameron is effectively the director of the '''two''' highest box office grossing movies.

* ''Piranha II: The Spawning'' (1981)

* ''{{Film/Avatar}}'' (2009)
* ''[[{{Film/Avatar}} Avatar 2]]'' (2014)
* ''[[{{Film/Avatar}} Avatar 3]]'' (2015)
* ''{{Battle Angel Alita}}'' (TBD)

* ActionGirl: Appear in pretty much every Cameron movie. Though they don't always use violence, Camerons female leads always are (or ultimately become) very strong and proactive. To quote {{Movie Bob}}:
--> (Cameron) made his name in the 1980s making high-budget [[{{Aliens}} action]] [[{{Terminator}} films]] that were really about ''[[{{MamaBear}} mommy issues]]''.