James Cameron, the Oscar-winning film director and technological pioneer, has no intention of slowing down despite turning 70. He was recently awarded
James Cameron, the Oscar-winning film director and technological pioneer, has no intention of slowing down despite turning 70. He was recently awarded Legends status by Disney, joining the likes of Angela Bassett, Harrison Ford, and composer John Williams. Cameron spoke to the Guardian from a car as he headed to a surprise appearance alongside Avatar stars Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington at D23, the biennial convention for members of the official Disney fan club, in Anaheim, California.
Cameron has spent hundreds of hours in submarines, been on at least 50 dives deeper than 2 miles, and made frequent dives to the wreck of the Titanic. He teamed up with BBC Studios and the nonprofit research organisation OceanX for a TV documentary about a state-of-the-art scientific research vessel called OceanXplorer travelling in remote seas. He was tied up making Avatar so could not join the expedition himself but now narrates OceanXplorers, a six-part National Geographic series.
The series features the spectacular images of marine life that one has come to expect from the BBC, with polar bears, sharks, and whales up close. But Cameron also brings a human dimension by focusing on the crew and their sense of wonder at seeing bioluminescence or thousands of jellyfish. He says: “It’s interesting to see the scientists because we’re filming them at the same time from inside the sub, so whenever they see something that’s exciting to them, that excitement is palpable and we’re able to quantify in the moment exactly why it’s interesting.”
Cameron has displayed a knack for engaging audiences in his Hollywood career. His films have earned $8.7bn at the worldwide box office, second only to Spielberg’s $10.8bn. At Sunday’s Disney tribute, actor Kate Winslet, who starred in Cameron’s 1997 epic Titanic, praised him for making “some of the most critically acclaimed, culturally loved films” of her lifetime.
Cameron’s new project, Avatar: Fire And Ash, is set for release on 19 December 2025. He says: “I know what we’ve got with this film and it’s gonna be a trip. What I would tell people is it’s not going to be what you expect but it’s going to be what you want.”
Cameron has also been working on a new Terminator project and has been vocal about the threat of artificial intelligence. He says: “I think Terminator 1 qualitatively is pretty obsolete, although story-wise it’s still pretty intriguing. There’s some interest around this idea that it was a bit prescient on certain things, like the emergence of AI, the potential existential threat of AI, which is transforming our world before our eyes.”
He adds: “As I jokingly said once in an interview, ‘I warned you guys in 1984 but you didn’t listen!’ Every time I go to some gathering of AI researchers, I put up my hand to ask a question and they all crack up. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s the Skynet guy, he’s going to be negative.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not negative, just let me ask my question, don’t judge’.”
The six-episode OceanXplorers premiered on 18 August and streams on Hulu and Disney+.
COMMENTS