James Cameron

James Cameron
Born	August 16, 1954 Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer

James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University but, after graduating, drove a truck to support his screen-writing 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 debuted as a director with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) the following year.

In 1984, he wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. It was a huge success. After this came a string of successful science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), and Avatar (2010). Cameron is now one of if not the most sought-after director(s) in Hollywood.

James Cameron approved of Terminator Genisys, and his endorsement line "You are going to love this movie" was televised. Despite his endorsement, many Terminator fans claimed that they felt the movie did not do justice for James Cameron due to the unsatisfying plot, acting and special effects of Alan Taylor's film.^{[citation needed]}

Personal Life

James was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. He married Kathryn Bigelow in 1989, and they divorced in 1991.

He married his Terminator actress star Linda Hamilton in 1997, six years after she starred in Terminator 2. They had one daughter together, and divorced in 1999.

James has been married five times: Sharon Williams (1978-1984), Gale Anne Hurd (1985-1989), Kathryn Bigelow (1989-1991), Linda Hamilton (1997-1999, one daughter), and Suzy Amis (2000-, one son, two daughters).

James Cameron was financially destitute before The Terminator was released. Back in 1983, his car was repossessed and his mom supported him through Burger King coupons. Today, thanks to his successful filming career, he has a net worth of $900 million, soon to increase when his future projects are released.

James Cameron has a mixed to negative opinion of Rise of the Machines and Salvation, which he had no involvement in.^{[citation needed]}

The Terminator: From idea to movie

While James Cameron was on a trip to Rome (Italy) he became very ill with high fever. One night he had a terrible nightmare about a chrome colored skeleton staring at him in a pillar of fire "It was this chrome skeleton emerging phoenixlike out of the fire". This was his very first "vision" of the Terminator robot. He sketched out some quick drafts. "He had a kitchen knife and pulled himself along the floor with it, dragging his broken arm. I also sketched the girl trying to get away from it. [...] I thought, 'that was cool'. I've never seen that in a movie before." The film The Terminator later featured a scene with a T-800 endoskeleton and flames in the background. A scene, more similar to James nightmare is in the intro of the film Terminator 2: Judgement Day, where the head of a T-800 endoskeleton ist staring through the flames at the viewer. The title poster of T2 3-D: Battle Across Time and many other similar works to come stemmed from those film moments.

The Terminator rights

Directing the police station sequence in The Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger

James Cameron announced T3 many times during the 1990s, but without coming out with a finished script. During his divorce with Linda Hamilton, she asked for the Terminator franchise rights which she promptly sold to Carolco Pictures owners Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna. Tedi Serafian wrote a script, but as it would cost over $300 million, it was rejected. Serafian earned a "story" credit after screenwriters John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris used some of his ideas, like Sarah Connor being dead, and the rival Terminator being female.

The studios had long wanted to make a sequel to the Terminator films. However, they weren't sure that Arnold Schwarzenegger would appear in it. Schwarzenegger initially refused to star in Terminator 3 because James Cameron, who created the character and directed the first two films, would not be directing the third installment. Schwarzenegger tried to persuade Cameron to produce the third film. Cameron declined, however, and feeling that the Terminator character was as much Schwarzenegger's as it was his own, he advised Schwarzenegger to just do the third film, and ask for "nothing less than $30 million."

After T3 was released, Cameron would go on record as saying he "never planned on doing a third film, because the story was finished with T2." This conflicts with comments he made during the making of the Universal Studios ride T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, in which he stated that it was a "stepping stone to a third theatrical production." This comment can be seen on "The Making of T2 3D" as an extra on the T2 Ultimate Edition DVD.

The rights to Terminator will revert back to James Cameron in 2019.

Filmography in Terminator franchise

• The Terminator
  • Director
  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Stan Morski (voice)

• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  • Director
  • Writer
  • Producer

• T2 3-D: Battle Across Time
  • Director
  • Writer

External links

• James Cameron on the Internet Movie Database