Where Was Director James Cameron All This While?
Director James Cameron
Even as the release date for Avatar draws nearer by the day, a string of seemingly endless questions is popping up in the minds of people (see our post http://www.myfray.com/2009/12/14/avatar-fun-facts/ for more). 12 years is a long time for any director to be easily forgotten. And that takes us to another question: why did it take James Cameron, the director of Avatar, 12 years to come out of his hiatus?
After Terminator and Terminator 2:Judgement Day, 1997 was when James Cameron came up with Titanic, crossing endless barriers in terms of revenue and accolades. And then, he was virtually nowhere to be seen in international cinema.
What many of us do not know is that James Cameron made a TV Series, Dark Angels, starring Jessica Alba and Max Guevara. The first season was a success, its failure in the second led to its cancellation.
The last 12 years weren’t all well for James Cameron. He had his own ups-and-downs, with projects being shelves and disputes being generated.
In June 2005, James Cameron announced he was working on a project called “Project 880” (now Avatar). The movie was being shot in 3D. And, that’s how, for the past 4 years, he has been devotedly working to realize his dream, “Project 880”.
Avatar has been shot using a digital 3-D fusion camera system.
As for the disputes, Director James Cameron had planned to do a film based on comic book character Spider-Man, which later on ran into a lot of controversy. In a nutshell, it involved James Cameron not being credited for his role in the screenplay of Spider-Man. That’s a big jolt for a director as talented as James Cameron.
Cameron has been involved in a lot of undersea documentaries on the Bismarck (Expedition: Bismarck, 2002) and the Titanic (Ghosts of the Abyss (2003, in IMAX 3D), and Tony Robinson’s Titanic Adventure (2005)).
There’s a lot being written about the upcoming movie (see http://www.myfray.com/2009/12/03/avatar-the-movie-a-sneak-peek/ ), but whether or not the sci-fi will be accepted by an audience now spoilt for choice, is yet to be seen. The performance of actor Sam Worthington will make a huge difference.
Meanwhile, we will continue giving you info on the latest buzz about Avatar, as well as James Cameron’s past endeavours, especially during his curious 12-year break.
