94 Facts About James Cameron

1.

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16,1954 and is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer.

2.

James Cameron first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator and found further success with Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the action comedy True Lies.

3.

James Cameron wrote and directed Titanic, Avatar and its sequels, with Titanic earning him Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing.

4.

James Cameron co-founded the production companies Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Earthship Productions.

5.

James Cameron has contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies and helped create the digital 3D Fusion Camera System.

6.

In 2012, James Cameron became the first person to do a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.

7.

Three of James Cameron's films are amongst the top four highest-grossing films of all time; Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic are the highest, third, and fourth highest-grossing films of all time, respectively.

8.

James Cameron is the only director to have had three films gross over $2 billion worldwide.

9.

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16,1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, to Philip Cameron, an electrical engineer, and Shirley, an artist and nurse.

10.

James Cameron is the first of five children, with two brothers and two sisters.

11.

James Cameron spent summers on his grandfather's farm in southern Ontario.

12.

James Cameron attended Sonora High School and then moved to Brea Olinda High School.

13.

James Cameron switched subjects to English, but left the college at the end of 1974.

14.

James Cameron worked odd jobs, including as a truck driver and a janitor, but wrote in his free time.

15.

James Cameron then served as a production assistant for Rock 'n' Roll High School.

16.

James Cameron was employed as an art director for the science-fiction film Battle Beyond the Stars.

17.

James Cameron carried out the special effects for John Carpenter's Escape from New York, served as production designer for Galaxy of Terror, and consulted on the design for Android.

18.

James Cameron was hired as the special effects director for the sequel to Piranha, titled Piranha II: The Spawning in 1982.

19.

However, James Cameron later said that it did not feel like his first film due to power-struggles with Assonitis.

20.

Disillusioned from being in Rome and suffering a fever, James Cameron had a nightmare about an invincible robot hit-man sent from the future to assassinate him, which later led to the inspiration of The Terminator.

21.

James Cameron wanted to sell the script so that he could direct the movie.

22.

James Cameron convinced the president of Hemdale Pictures to make the film, with Cameron as director and Hurd as a producer.

23.

Lance Henriksen, who starred in Piranha II: The Spawning, was considered for the lead role, but James Cameron decided that Arnold Schwarzenegger was more suitable as the cyborg villain due to his bodybuilder appearance.

24.

In 1984, James Cameron was hired to write a sequel to First Blood; it was rewritten by Sylvester Stallone and released as Rambo: First Blood Part II.

25.

James Cameron was then hired to write and direct a sequel to Alien, a science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott.

26.

In 1990, James Cameron co-founded the firm Lightstorm Entertainment with partner Lawrence Kasanoff.

27.

In 1991, James Cameron served as executive producer for Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

28.

In subsequent years, James Cameron planned to do a third Terminator film but plans never materialized.

29.

James Cameron moved on to other projects and, in 1993, co-founded Digital Domain, a visual effects production company.

30.

In 1995, James Cameron co-produced Strange Days, a science fiction thriller.

31.

In 1996, James Cameron reunited with the cast of Terminator 2 to film T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, an attraction at Universal Studios Florida, and in other parks around the world.

32.

James Cameron's completed screenplay depicts two star-crossed lovers, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, from different social classes who fall in love amid the backdrop of the tragedy; a radical departure from his previous work.

33.

The film received strong critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing film of all time, holding this position for 12 years until James Cameron's Avatar beat the record in 2010.

34.

James Cameron had planned to make a film about Spider-Man, a project developed by Menahem Golan of Cannon Films.

35.

In 2000, Cameron made his debut in television and co-created Dark Angel with Charles H Eglee, a television series influenced by cyberpunk, biopunk, contemporary superheroes and third-wave feminism.

36.

In 2002, James Cameron served as producer on the 2002 film Solaris, a science fiction drama directed by Steven Soderbergh.

37.

Keen to make documentaries, James Cameron directed Expedition: Bismarck, about the German Battleship Bismarck.

38.

James Cameron told The Guardian his intention for filming everything in 3D.

39.

In 2005, James Cameron co-directed Aliens of the Deep, a documentary about the various forms of life in the ocean.

40.

James Cameron starred in Titanic Adventure with Tony Robinson, another documentary about the Titanic shipwreck.

41.

In 2006, James Cameron co-created and narrated The Exodus Decoded, a documentary exploring the Biblical account of the Exodus.

42.

James Cameron had displayed interest in making Avatar and Alita: Battle Angel as early as June 2005 with both films to be shot using 3D technology.

43.

James Cameron wanted to make Alita: Battle Angel first, followed by Avatar but switched the order in February 2006.

44.

James Cameron intended Avatar to be 3D-only but decided to adapt it for conventional viewing as well.

45.

In 2011, James Cameron served as an executive producer for Sanctum, a disaster-survival film about a cave diving expedition which turns deadly.

46.

Cameron re-investigated the sinking of RMS Titanic with eight experts in a 2012 TV documentary special, Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron, which premiered on April 8 on the National Geographic channel.

47.

In March 2010, James Cameron announced that Titanic will be converted and re-released in 3D to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the tragedy.

48.

James Cameron served as executive producer of Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away and Deepsea Challenge 3D in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

49.

James Cameron starred in the 2017 documentary Atlantis Rising, with collaborator Simcha Jacobovici.

50.

James Cameron stated "Without Jules Verne and H G Wells, there wouldn't have been Ray Bradbury or Robert A Heinlein, and without them, there wouldn't be [George] Lucas, [Steven] Spielberg, Ridley Scott or me".

51.

James Cameron then returned to the Terminator franchise as producer and writer for Tim Miller's Terminator: Dark Fate.

52.

James Cameron stated in a 2017 interview, "Let's face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don't make enough money, there's not going to be a 4 and 5".

53.

Lightstorm Entertainment bought the film rights to the Taylor Stevens novel, The Informationist, a thriller set in Africa with James Cameron planning to direct.

54.

James Cameron met with survivor Tsutomu Yamaguchi before his death in 2010.

55.

In 2006, James Cameron's wife co-founded MUSE School, which became the first K-12 vegan school in the United States.

56.

James Cameron has hosted events for Global Green USA, and pushed for sustainable solutions to energy use.

57.

In June 2019, James Cameron announced a business venture with film director Peter Jackson, to produce plant-based meat, cheese, and dairy products in New Zealand.

58.

James Cameron suggested that we need "a nice transition to a meatless or relatively meatless world in 20 or 30 years".

59.

In 2012, James Cameron purchased more than 1,000 hectares of land in remote South Wairarapa, New Zealand; subsequent purchases have seen that grow to approximately 5,000 hectares.

60.

In June 2010, James Cameron met with officials of the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss possible solutions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

61.

James Cameron is a member of the NASA Advisory Council and he worked with the space agency to build cameras for the Curiosity rover sent for Mars.

62.

James Cameron endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for the 2016 United States presidential election.

63.

James Cameron is an expert on deep-sea exploration, in part because of his work on The Abyss and Titanic, and his childhood fascination with shipwrecks.

64.

James Cameron has contributed to advancements in underwater filming and remotely operated vehicles, and helped develop the 3D Fusion Camera System.

65.

James Cameron spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor, becoming the first to accomplish the trip alone.

66.

James Cameron was preceded by unmanned dives in 1995 and 2009, as well as by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, the first men to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench aboard the Bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960.

67.

James Cameron was married to Sharon Williams from 1978 to 1984.

68.

James Cameron then began a relationship with Linda Hamilton, actress in The Terminator series.

69.

James Cameron resided in the United States, but after filming Avatar in New Zealand, James Cameron bought a home and a farm there in 2012.

70.

James Cameron divided his time between Malibu, California and New Zealand until 2020, after which he sold his Malibu home and decided to live in New Zealand permanently.

71.

James Cameron has said he is a "Converted Agnostic", adding "I've sworn off agnosticism, which I now call cowardly atheism".

72.

James Cameron met close friend Guillermo del Toro on the production of his 1993 film, Cronos.

73.

James Cameron supported the UK's National Maritime Museum and National Museums Northern Ireland decision to bid for the artifacts, but they were acquired by an investment group before a formal bid took place.

74.

James Cameron's films are often based on themes which explore the conflicts between intelligent machines and humanity or nature, dangers of corporate greed, strong female characters, and a romance subplot.

75.

James Cameron is regarded as an innovative filmmaker in the industry, as well as not easy to work for.

76.

Author Alexandra Keller writes that James Cameron is an egomaniac, obsessed with vision, but praises his "technological ingenuity" at creating a "visceral viewing experience".

77.

James Cameron lets you know exactly how he feels", but complimented Cameron, "he's of the lineage of John Ford.

78.

Composer James Horner was not immune to Cameron's demands; he recalls having to write music in a short time frame for Aliens.

79.

Biehn acknowledged that James Cameron is "not real sensitive when it comes to actors and their trailers, and waiting for actors to come to the set".

80.

James Cameron's work has had an impact in the Hollywood film industry.

81.

Director Michael Bay idolizes James Cameron and was convinced by him to use 3D cameras for filming Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

82.

James Cameron received the inaugural Ray Bradbury Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1992 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

83.

James Cameron received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1998, presented by Awards Council member George Lucas.

84.

James Cameron received an honorary doctorate in 1998 from Brock University in St Catharines, Ontario, for his accomplishments in the international film industry.

85.

In 1998, James Cameron attended a convocation to receive an honorary degree from Ryerson University, Toronto.

86.

James Cameron accepted the degree at the university's summer annual commencement exercise.

87.

James Cameron's work has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; as one of the few directors to have won three Academy Awards in a single year.

88.

James Cameron has won two Golden Globes: Best Director for Titanic and Avatar.

89.

In 2008, James Cameron received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame and a year later, received the 2,396th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

90.

On February 28,2010, James Cameron was honored with a Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award.

91.

In June 2012, James Cameron was inducted to The Science Fiction Hall of Fame at the Museum of Pop Culture for his contribution to the science fiction and fantasy field.

92.

In 2013, James Cameron received the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public, which is annually awarded by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

93.

In 2019, James Cameron was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada by Governor General Julie Payette, giving him the Post Nominal Letters "CC" for life.

94.

In 2020, James Cameron was the subject of the second season of the Epicleff Media dramatic podcast Blockbuster.