History Creator / JamesCameron

James Francis Cameron [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CC]] (born August 16, 1954) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results considering how spectacular and well made they often turn out to be.

Cameron's films have certain common traits, such as: a ProductionPosse consisting of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Creator/SigourneyWeaver, Creator/BillPaxton, Creator/MichaelBiehn, Creator/LindaHamilton, Creator/LanceHenriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Creator/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; [[ActionGirl strong female characters]]; and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers titles starting with either A or T.]] 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 over-schedule during production.

James Francis Cameron [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CC]] (born August 16, 1954) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results considering how spectacular and well made they often end up being.

James Francis Cameron [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CC]] (born August 16, 1954) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results.

* AmicableExes: With both Kathryn Bigelow and Linda Hamilton.

* GranolaGuy: He's been a vegan since 2011 and produced a documentary on the subject. He’s also quite passionate about the environment and ''Avatar'' is somewhat infamous for reflecting this.
* HairTriggerTemper: Cameron himself has admitted to having one, which has been the cause of quite a bit of the grief on set. His crew claims that he has mellowed out recently, though.

* {{Jerkass}}: An extension of Enforced Method Acting under trivia, during filming of ''Terminator 2'', he was married to co-star Linda Hamilton at the time. To make her more cut and muscular, he pushed her to take steroids, which kept her a tad unstable. While not official, this was one of the reasons for their later divorce.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: However, he's known as very nice and kind off-set and never asks any cast or crew to do anything he would not do himself and has been said to have mellowed out a lot in his later years. Those who've worked with him on multiple films have said his bark is generally much worse than his bite. He's also a notable advocate for scientific advancement.

* PrimaDonnaDirector: One of the most infamous cinematic examples. ''The Abyss'' and ''Titanic'' had plenty of crewmen getting sick, Ed Harris punched Cameron in the face after he nearly drowned while Cameron continued shooting, Kate Winslet said she only works again with him for 'a lot of money'... and [[SourSupporter the crew]] often expressed their "admiration" with {{Fun T Shirt}}s, such as "You can't scare me, I work for James Cameron" (as early as ''The Terminator''), "Jim's a hands-on director. I have the bruises to prove it", "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie. But the actors were tossed around like Styrofoam cups" (both from ''Titanic''), "[[{{Pun}} Life's]] [[Film/TheAbyss Abyss]], and then you die", "This film would have been easier to shoot on the Moon" and "Alien\Terminator 3? Not with me!".
** ''However,'' while it has been noted that certain actors keep popping up in Cameron's films, if you pay attention to the end credits you will notice recurring names among the crew as well. It's natural over his long career that Cameron has developed a regular group of professionals that he prefers to work with because they know what he wants, take his temper in stride, don't take his tirades personally, and do everything they can to make the film the way he envisioned it (especially since the results have borne out that his vision is usually a very good one).
** In ''Exploring the Deep: The Titanic Expeditions'', he even admits “I can be a prime donna on set.”

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: A theme in ''Terminator 2''.
-->'''John Connor''': Why the Russians? Aren't they our friends now?"

* HiddenDepths: It is often said that, other than acting, there is no aspect of filmmaking that Cameron could not do himself, and that the only reason he hires people at all is because he can't be in multiple locations at the same time. Perhaps his most notable second string is art; he designed the superb matte paintings for ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', the spaceships (yes, even the boob one) in ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'', the maggot monster in ''Film/GalaxyOfTerror'' and, most famously, the Alien Queen in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', for which he also designed the now-iconic "W-Y" logo for Weyland-Yutani Corp. Winston admitted that he simply saw Cameron's designs as a blueprint for the Terminator edoskeleton.

* ''Film/TheTerminator'' (1984)

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' (1991)

* ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' (2019) (producer, co-writer)

* ''Avatar 2'' (2021)
* ''Avatar 3'' (2023)
* ''Avatar 4'' (2025)
* ''Avatar 5'' (2027)

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: However, he's known as very nice and kind off-set and never asks any cast or crew to do anything he would not do himself. He's also a notable advocate for scientific advancement.

Cameron next worked on a sequel to Creator/RidleyScott'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 [[note]]said cameraman thought it would be a brilliant idea to have the nest really bright and visible and ruin the suspense[[/note]]; 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 Music/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.

** ''However,'' while it has been noted that certain actors keep popping up in Cameron's films, if you pay attention to the end credits you will notice recurring names among the crew as well. It's natural over his long career that Cameron has developed a regular group of professionals that he prefers to work with because they know what he wants, take his temper in stride, don't take his tirades personally, and do everything they can to make the film the way he envisioned it.

* HiddenDepths: It is often said that, other than acting, there is no aspect of filmmaking that Cameron could not do himself, and that the only reason he hires people at all is because he can't be in multiple locations at the same time. Perhaps his most notable second string is art; he designed the superb matte paintings for ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', the spaceships (yes, even the boob one) in ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'', the maggot monster in ''Film/GalaxyOfTerror'' and, most famously, the Alien Queen in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Winston admitted that he simply saw Cameron's designs as a blueprint for the Terminator edoskeleton.

James Francis Cameron [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CC]] (born August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results.

James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: ''The Abyss'' (with a lovely reel of human-orchestrated monstrosities nearly prompting the aliens to wipe out the Earth), ''Terminator 2'' (“It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves”), and ''Aliens'' and ''Avatar'', which feature corrupt corporate/military leaders. He just doesn't like people all that much.

* HiddenDepths: It is often said that, other than acting, there is no aspect of filmmaking that Cameron could not do himself, and that the only reason he hires people at all is because he can't be in multiple locations at the same time. Perhaps his most notable second string is art; he designed the superb matte paintings for ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', the spaceships (yes, even the boob one) in ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'', the maggot monster in ''Film/GalaxyOfTerror'' and, most famously, the Alien Queen in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Winston admitted that he simply Cameron's his designs as a blueprint for the Terminator edoskeleton.

* ActionGirl: Appear in pretty much every Cameron movie. Though they don't always use violence, Cameron's female leads always are (or ultimately become) very strong and proactive. To quote [[Creator/BobChipman Moviebob]]:

** His ''Battle Angel Alita'' adaptation languised in development hell until production finally began in 2016 and released in 2019, over a decade behind schedule and with directing duties left to Robert Rodriguez.

** His ''Battle Angel Alita'' adaptation is the new ''Avatar'', slated for a 2019 release, over a decade behind schedule and with directing duties left to Robert Rodriguez.

* ''Script/SpiderMan1993'' (1993, cancelled)

* ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' (2019) (producer, writer)

James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian director, producer and screenwriter famous for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and the blockbusters ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', [[CanadaEh eh?]] He also has a reputation for being a tyrant on the set of his films, earning him the nickname "Iron Jim", but one certainly can't argue with the results.

-->'''John Connor''': I thought the Russians were our friends now?

** Probably the only director considered to have a ''lifetime'' license, since two of his movies, ''Avatar'' and ''Titanic'', are the #2 and #3 Top-Grossing Movies Of All Time.

As of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', he became the first director in history to have two of his films each make a billion dollars; since then, he has been joined in this exclusive club by Creator/ChristopherNolan (''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''), Creator/PeterJackson (''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: the Return of the King'' and ''Film/TheHobbit: An Unexpected Journey''), Creator/MichaelBay (''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' and ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction''), Creator/JossWhedon (''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]'' and ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''), Creator/JamesWan (''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]'' and ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}''), and Creator/TheRussoBrothers (''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''). Including ''Titanic''[='s=] UpdatedRerelease, he is also responsible for the first two films to each make $2 billion (with the Russos following suit with the release of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'').