Biography of legendary director James Cameron

James Cameron is Canadian. He comes from a large family of an engineer and graphic artist. His parents had five children, James himself was the firstborn.

The future director went to school in Chippyu, but received his primary education in the United States. He ended up there thanks to moving with his family in the 60s. Next, Cameron enters the faculty of the University of California. James failed to complete his studies, since in 1978 he took up filming short films "Xenogenesis".

The work interested Roger Corman, who worked on low-budget films. Following this, Cameron begins working at the New World Pictures studio. The director's debut feature film was the sequel "Piranha 2: Spawn" - it was a continuation of the horror "Piranha".

Way to success

James' first big hit came with a film. "Terminator". It all started when Cameron got the flu. In a dream, he saw a girl trying to escape from a terrible monster, whose shape changes and eyes glow. Many studios liked the script of the tape, but nevertheless they had no desire to trust the novice specialist. Then Cameron sold that script to producer Gail Ann Hurd at a price of one dollar, but on the condition that Cameron act as director. Gale and James later got married.

The budget of the tape was small for those times - only six million dollars. Nevertheless, James managed to release an exemplary film in his genre. The famous bodybuilder and actor played the role of the killer machine Arnold Schwarzenegger, this role became a landmark in his career.

Next James Cameron directs a sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi hit "Stranger". The second film was very different from the first, it was no longer a thriller, but an action movie. The sequel had a lot more shootouts and fights, but despite all the differences, the audience really liked the movie. Leading actress Sigourney Weaver was nominated for "Oscar".

After the sequel, James took up the film adaptation of a story about submariners who encounter strange inhabitants of the depths of extraterrestrial origin. The film was expensive to produce: it cost $70 million. Filming took place at an unfinished power plant, which was filled with a huge amount of water. In those days, they still did not know how to shoot the underwater world in the studio. The film did not manage to collect a large box office, and reviews from critics were mixed, definitely not laudatory.

Cameron's colleagues in the film industry were interested in continuation of the film "Terminator". The director himself was in no hurry to get to work, as he wanted to realize the idea of a liquid terminator at a decent level. In addition, the release of the sequel was delayed due to copyright litigation. As a result, the producer got them Mario Cassaruand then the work began.

Breakthrough in the industry

The budget of "Terminator 2" was much larger than that of the first part. As a result of all the ratings, it was necessary to allocate to the cinema $100 million. But despite being so expensive, the film grossed five times more money worldwide than was spent. Critics liked the work The film won four Oscars..

The film was a real breakthrough for the director. "Titanic" 1997 with Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and Billy Zane.

For more than a decade, the film was the world's top box-office taker, as it managed to collect 1.8 billion with a budget of 200 million. The movie was received in the best way by all categories of viewers. The ribbon has been awarded 11 Oscars. Only the film managed to get around the charges of "Titanic" "Avatar" in 2010 - its author is also Cameron.

Work on the "Terminator"»

For everyone, the most anticipated event was to see third part franchise "Terminator", but Cameron was not eager to do the film. He claimed to have done everything he wanted in the first two pictures. But journalists and studio bosses did not leave the director alone. He was constantly asked questions about the third part, and once James replied that he would direct this film if a number of conditions were met:
• the rights to the brand will pass into his hands;
• Actress Linda Hamilton will return to the role of Sarah Connor.

However, this was not destined to come true, and other people eventually worked on the third part.

It took the director more than ten years to prepare the film "Avatar". The picture again became revolutionary in technical terms. The greatest difficulty was the creation of the world of the planet "Pandora", which was carried out with the help of software simulation of the environmental conditions in which all the flora was to be formed.

The film told about how the remnants of humanity leave the depleted and polluted Earth in search of a new habitat. As a result, people fly to a flourishing, technology-free planet. But not everything is going well, because it is already inhabited by tribes of humanoids who refuse to accept the mores and civilizational features of earthlings. All events aggravate the conflict and put nations on the brink wars for survival.

In addition to all the complexities and peculiarities of production, the film was made in 3D, and its success led to the formation of a corresponding trend for entertainment films of this type. "Avatar" was even more profitable than "Titanic", grossing one billion more at the box office.

About Cameron's personal life

The director's personal life was full of events, meetings and partings. Cameron married five times. At first he lived with a waitress Sharon Williams, they have been together for more than five years since 1978. Due to the fact that Cameron's career dragged on, the marriage broke up. The second time James married the already mentioned producer Gale Ann Hurd. Together they made the first "Terminator", the picture "Aliens" and "Abyss". At the end of work on the latter, the couple broke up.

In 1989, the director marries Katherine Bigelowalso a director. Two years later, Cameron begins an affair with Linda Hamilton, the performer of the role of Sarah Connor. Cameron officially divorced later. With Linda, James formalized the relationship in 1997, by which time they already had a daughter, Josephine. While working on Titanic, Cameron meets actress Susie Amis. After divorcing Linda, Amis and Cameron married in 2000. They have children, daughter Claire and twins Elizabeth and Quinn.

The Cameron family has a son, Susie Amis, from actor Sam Robardos named Jasper: Susie was married to Sam for some time.