God Director: James Cameron

James Cameron ( Iron Jim/Jim)

Born :                 16^th, August, 1954

Country :            Canada, Ontario, Kapuskasing

Birth name :        James Francis Cameron

Nick Name :       Iron Jim, Jim

Height :               6’ 2” (1.88m)

Spouse:

Suzy Amis              (4 June 2000 - present) 3 children

Linda Hamilton       (26 July 1997 - 16 December 1999) (divorced) 1child

Kathryn Bigelow     (17 August 1989 - 10 November 1991) (divorced)

Gale Anne Hurd     (1985 - 1989) (divorced)

Sharon Williams     (14 February 1978 - 14 July 1984) (divorced)

Trade Mark

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, likes to show close-up shots of feet or wheels, often trampling things, tight/close-up tracking shots on vehicles, especially during chase scenes, brings camera in close during fight scenes, achieving a claustrophobic effect.

Cameron's films tend to include broken, swinging fluorescent lights, especially in fight scenes. Like: The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), and Strange Days (1995).

 


Often includes sequences in which a video monitor is the perspective of the camera. For example, the T-800's viewpoint in infrared in The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), the video log in Avatar (2009),the helmet cameras in Aliens (1986), Little Geek exploring the submarine in The Abyss (1989), television newscasts in The Abyss (1989), the surveillance cameras in True Lies (1994), the SQUID sequences in Strange Days (1995), and Brock's "Geraldo Moment" at the beginning of Titanic (1997). He uses this perspective at least once in every movie he is tied with.

Often features shots of large explosions, crashes, gunshots, etc. in the background with people running away in the foreground. These shots were used heavily in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and True Lies (1994) but also in other films.

[Dreams] Often works dreams or characters sleeping into the plot.

His films tend to have scenes with elevators with something dangerous happening near or in them. In Aliens (1986), Ripley goes up and down cargo elevator several times, exiting the complex and then going back while loading weapons to get Newt and then leaving with the Queen Alien following. The Queen Alien rides the elevator to follow Ripley. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Sara sees the T-800 for the first time exiting an elevator. The T-1000 is shot from outside the elevator and then attacks Sara, John and the T-800 above it. In another scene, Sara, John and the T-800 crash in an elevator after an explosion on a higher floor. They are then gassed by the SWAT team at the bottom. In True Lies (1994), Harry enters an elevator on a horse in pursuit of a terrorist in the opposite elevator on a motorcycle. In Titanic (1997), Rose goes up an elevator with Jack to escape her fiancé. In another scene, Rose goes down an elevator to a flooded floor, filling it with water.

Utilizes slow motion in intense scenes or to intensify a scene

Often employs composers Brad Fiedel and James Horner to score his films.

His films frequently depict children in some kind of danger.

Many of his films have water or the ocean as a central theme

The use of machines as an important plot point or weapon: in both Avatar and Aliens the soldiers use a similar machine to fight in the final battle, the Terminators are machines and The Abyss also features a lot of machines important to the plot.

Blockbusters often have one-word titles, which are also the subjects of them: "(The) Terminator", "(The) Abyss", "Titanic" etc.

In all his films, at least one character yells "Go! Go! Go!"

Personal Quotes

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 film-making, 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 Terminator. 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, 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.

Salary


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