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James
Cameron
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Biography
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| Director,
Screenwriter, Producer
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| Date
of Birth:
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August
16th, 1954
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| Sign:
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Leo
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| Place
of Birth:
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Kapuskasing,
Ontario, Canada
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| Education:
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California
State University at Fullerton, Physics, switched to
English, then dropped out.
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| Contact:
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| Bert
Fields of Greenberg, Fields, Claman &
Machinger
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| Los
Angeles, CA, USA
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| Tel.:
310-553-3610
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| Business
Contact:
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| Lightstorm
Entertainment
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| 919
Santa Monica Blvd.
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| Santa
Monica, CA 90401, USA
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| Phone
:
310-656-6100
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Fax:
310-656-6102
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| Type:
Motion Pictures
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| Personal
quote:
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The
film industry is about saying ?no? to people, and
inherently you cannot take ?no? for an answer.
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The next pivotal juncture in Cameron's evolution as a filmmaker came in 1977, when he saw Star Wars for the first time. It was exactly the movie he had dreamed of making since watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it inspired him to finally reach out for the dream.
It occurred to him that the possibility of integrating his interests in science and art were possible, due to the book Screenplay, which encouraged himself and two friends to create a ten minute script together. They raised the money to shoot it in 35mm and rented a camera, lenses, the film stocks and a studio. To understand how to operate the camera they simply dismantled it and spent the first half-day of the shoot just trying to figure out how to get it running.
When it came to the special effects area, Cameron explains that he was "completely self taught in special effects. I'd go down to the USC library and pull any theses that graduate students had written about optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology?if they'd let me photocopy it, I would. If not, I'd make notes."
As the future filmmaker continued to educate himself in the techniques, he landed a job as a miniature model maker at the Roger Corman Studios. Making fast, low-budget productions, Cameron was able to pick up the pace efficiently and effectively, moving up his ranking within the studio, soon working as an art director in the sci-fi movie Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), and he did special effects work design and direction on John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981).
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| Italian producer
Assonitis, was determined to produce a sequel to the original Piranha film. In an effort to save money and have complete control over the film's direction, the inexperienced Cameron was chosen.
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He consulted on the design of Android (1981), and he made movie history when he acted as production designer on the world renowned Galaxy of Terror (1981). At the time, Cameron knew he was involved in making the top movies but he was still thrilled to be a part of a team where he could be involved with the creation of a movie.
During this time, Cameron became so obsessed and driven by his career achievements that his personal life had to take a back seat, thus ending his first marriage.
Cameron finally got his big break in 1981 when he got his first shot at directing a film entitled Piranha II: The Spawning. Italian producer Assonitis, was determined to produce a sequel to the original Piranha film. In an effort to save money and have complete control over the film's direction, the inexperienced Cameron was chosen. However, Assonitis and Cameron just ended up butting heads by the time the movie's release came around.
The movie was to be produced on Jamaica but when Cameron arrived at the studio, he discovered that his crew was comprised primarily of Italians who spoke no English and that the project was under financed.
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| Cameron, under duress, in a feverish comatose stage, had a nightmare about an invisible robot hit man sent from the future to kill
him... a.k.a.
Terminator
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The movie of course was terrible. After being given the red light by Assonitis for editing the disaster flick, Cameron desiring to edit his own flawed masterpiece broke into the editing room with a plastic credit card. He taught himself to use the unfamiliar Italian editing equipment and secretly re-cut the entire movie.
Assonitis continued to pester Cameron about the lousy shooting and editing. Cameron, under duress, in a feverish comatose stage, had a nightmare about an invisible robot hit man sent from the future to kill him. So he started to work on the project and his nightmare bloomed into the script, which would catapult his filming career: The Terminator (1984).
While waiting for Terminator to be financed, Cameron accepted two writing jobs. Cameron worked on the screenplay of Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) with Sylvester Stallone and Aliens (1986), the sequel to the 1979 science fiction classic Alien.
Cameron was positive that the dream he had earlier had potential, so he contacted action producer Gale Anne Hurd. He sold her the script for one dollar, on condition he be allowed to direct the movie and direct it his way. The result was a low-budget movie, made on a mind-bogglingly minimal budget of $6.5, which became a huge success.
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