James Cameron: Interviews

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Brent Dunham (Editor)

James Cameron (b. 1954) is lauded as one of the most successful and innovative filmmakers of the last thirty years. His films often break records, both in their massive budgets and in their box-office earnings. They include such hits as The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic, and Avatar. Part scientist, part dramatist, Cameron combines these two qualities into inventive and captivating films that often push the boundaries of special effects to accommodate his imagination. James Cameron: Interviews chronicles the writer-director's rise through the Hollywood system, highlighted by his -can-do- attitude and his insatiable drive to make the best film possible.

As a young boy growing up in Canada, Cameron imagined himself an astronaut, a deep-sea explorer, a science fiction writer, or a filmmaker. Transplanted to southern California, he would go on to realize many of those boyhood fantasies.

This collection of interviews provides glimpses of the filmmaker as he advances from Roger Corman's underling to -king of the world.- The interviews are drawn from a number of sources including TV appearances and conversations on blogs, which have never been published in print. Spanning more than twenty years, this collection constructs a concise and thorough examination of Cameron, a filmmaker who has almost single-handedly ushered Hollywood into the twenty-first century.

Genres: Film, Biography

219 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2011

Reviews

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting.

This differed from nearly every other book in this "Interviews with Filmmakers" series because while Cameron talks about the importance of plot and characters in his movies, that is as far as it goes. He says you have to have a story and characters people care about, but what he really talks about is the technology. He talks about the cameras you need to film the wreck of the Titanic far more than he talks about the story or the characters.

The only other person he talks about seems to be Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold is mentioned several times, far more than anyone else Cameron has worked with.

The movie that influenced him the most is Kubrick's "2001 A Space Odyssey." A Harryhausen film is mentioned once, and Star Wars gets mentioned a couple times, but to Cameron it seems like cinema begins and ends with "2001."

Very interesting psychologically, I suppose.

[Elijah]

Nice collection of interviews spanning Cameron's career past Avatar. It's curious that there is a gap during the time he was making Titanic. Maybe he did zero press during that time, but that's unlikely. He's always otherwise made public appearances and did press events during production. It's one of the ways he markets his films. I was livid when I flipped the page from post True Lies promotion to post-Titanic events. He talks a lot about Titanic in all interviews thereafter, of course, but it would have been useful to see how he talked about the film before it was the biggest movie of all time.

Anyway... good book. Better than many.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of interviews with James Cameron, in chronological order. My only minor problem with this book is, as the interviews are unedited, you find yourself reading the same questions and answers a lot of times. Otherwise, it's an informative read, and you get a good sense of how the director has developed and grown over 25 years.

[Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

It gets repetitive but you really get to know this guy.

[Sambasivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding personality. Supremely confident and pushes himself to the extreme limits. A real inspiration!!!