Biography of legendary director James Cameron

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

The future director went to school in Chippewa, but his primary education was in the USA. There he found himself thanks to a move with his family in the 60s. Then Cameron enters the faculty of the University of California. To complete his studies James was not able to, as in 1978 he took up filming "Xenogenesis" short films..

The work interested Roger Corman, who dealt with low-budget films. Following this, Cameron began working at New World Pictures. The director's debut full-length film was the sequel to "Piranha 2: The Spawning." - it was a sequel to the horror film Piranha.

Path to success

James' first big success came with the film "Terminator.". It all started when Cameron came down with the flu. In a dream, he saw a girl trying to escape from a scary monster, which has a changing shape and glowing eyes. The script of the tape liked many studios, but nevertheless they had no desire to trust a novice specialist. Then Cameron sold the script to producer Gale Anne Hurd. for the price of one dollar, but on the condition that Cameron would direct. Gail and James were later married.

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

Next James Cameron to direct a sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi hit "Alien.". The second film was very different from the first, it was no longer a thriller, but an action film. In the sequel there were many more shootouts and fights, but despite all the differences, the audience liked the film very much. Actress Sigourney Weaver in the lead role was nominated for a "Oscar.".

After the sequel, James took on a film adaptation of the story of submariners who encounter strange deep-sea inhabitants of extraterrestrial origin. The film was expensive to produce: it cost $70 million. The filming took place in an unfinished power station, which was filled with a huge volume of water. In those days to film the underwater world in the studio did not yet know how. The film failed to gather a large box office, and the critics' reviews were mixed, definitely not praiseworthy.

Cameron's colleagues in the film industry were interested in the sequel to the film "Terminator." The director himself was not in a hurry to get to work, as he wanted to realise the idea of the liquid terminator at a decent level. In addition, the release of the sequel was delayed due to proceedings on copyright issues. In the end, the producer got them Mario Cassaruand that's when the work started.

Industry breakthrough

The budget of "Terminator 2" was much bigger than that of the first part. As a result of all the evaluations, it was necessary to allocate to the film $100 million. But, even as expensive as it was, the film grossed five times more money worldwide than it spent. The critics loved the work, the film won four Oscars.

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

For more than a decade, the film led the world in box office receipts, as it managed to gather 1.8 billion on a budget of 200 million. The film was received in the best way by all categories of viewers. The film was honoured 11 Academy Awards.. The only film to surpass Titanic in terms of box office receipts "Avatar." in 2010 - also authored by Cameron.

Working on "The Terminator."

For everyone, the most anticipated event was to see third part The Terminator franchise, but Cameron was not keen on doing the film. He claimed he had done everything he wanted to do in the first two films. But journalists and studio bosses didn't leave the director alone.. He was constantly asked questions about the third part, and James once replied that he would make the film if a number of conditions were met:
- the rights to the brand will be taken over;
- actress Linda Hamilton will return to the role of Sarah Connor.

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

It took the director more than a decade to prepare the film "Avatar.". The picture was again 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 modelling of the conditions of the environment in which all the flora was to be formed.

The film was about the remnants of humanity leaving an exhausted and polluted Earth in search of a new habitat. As a result, people arrive on a blossoming planet, not poisoned by technology. But not everything goes well, because it is already inhabited by tribes of humanoids, who refuse to accept the mores and civilisational features of the Earthlings. All the events escalate the conflict and put the peoples on the brink wars of survival.

In addition to all the complexities and peculiarities of production, the film was made in 3D format, 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 personal life of the director turned out to be full of events, meetings and breakups. Cameron married five times. At first he lived with a waitress Sharon Williamsthey were together for over five years from 1978. Due to the fact that Cameron was dragged down by his career, the marriage broke up. The second time James married the already mentioned producer Gale Anne Hurd. Together they made the first "Terminator", the picture "Aliens" and "The Abyss". At the end of work on the latter, the couple broke up.

In 1989, the filmmaker married Kathryn Bigelowalso a film director. Two years later, Cameron begins an affair with Linda Hamiltonwho played Sarah Connor. Cameron officially divorced later. With Linda James formalised a 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 get married in 2000. They have children, they are daughter Claire and twins Elizabeth and Quinn.

Cameron's family includes a son, Susie Amis, from actor Sam Robardos named Jasper: to Sam, Susie was married for a time.