James Cameron: Biography

The top action director of his generation, as well as one of the most notoriously demanding, James Cameron has made a mark on Hollywood with a string of mega-budget, mega-grossing films remarkable for their marriage of technical wizardry with human sentiment. Cameron's 1997's Titanic was the most successful demonstration of this coupling, becoming the highest-grossing film in history to that time and earning its director a glittering assortment of international awards.

The son of an electrical engineer, Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He was fascinated with movies from a young age and would later cite Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as an early influence. Thanks to his father's job, Cameron and his family moved to southern California in 1971, and the director went on to study physics at California State University. Following his graduation, Cameron, who had already decided he wanted to pursue a film career, took a job as a truck driver to support his early screenwriting efforts.

He received his first break at the hands of the legendary Roger Corman, who hired Cameron as a model maker at his Roger Corman Studios. There the director worked on his first movie, serving as art director for 1980's Battle Beyond the Stars. Thanks to a combination of skill and dedication, Cameron quickly moved up through the ranks, and the following year was appointed second unit director and production designer for the schlock-fest Galaxy of Terror. The same year, he made his inauspicious directorial and screenwriting debut with Piranha 2: The Spawning. Legend has it that Cameron had such a bad time filming the movie, shot entirely in Italy, that it gave him nightmares -- the substance of which would inspire his breakthrough film, The Terminator (1984).

A grim tale of a futuristic war between humankind and man-made machines, The Terminator was a huge success, giving Cameron both fame and power, along with stardom for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who would appear in numerous Cameron movies. After The Terminator, he scripted 1985's Rambo: First Blood Part II before going on to write and direct Aliens. The 1986 film, like its 1979 predecessor, was a critical and commercial success, and Cameron followed it in 1989 with another exploration of human and alien interaction in The Abyss. More noteworthy than the film's mixed reception were the stories about the process of making it. Tales of emotionally traumatized actors, an exceedingly demanding director, and often unbearable filming conditions (the film took place underwater) abounded: some crew members even made t-shirts that read, "Life's Abyss and Then You Dive." However, although the director's reputation may have suffered a bit, the film garnered him further acclaim, winning an Oscar for Best Special Effects. And, as a large portion of the planet was to find out eight years later, it was not the last time he would make a movie that took place in the water.

Cameron next turned to writing and producing, working on 1991's Point Break, which was directed by then-wife Kathryn Bigelow (he had previously been married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, with whom he collaborated on numerous projects). The same year, he wrote, produced, and directed Terminator 2: Judgement Day and enjoyed further acclaim. The movie made an asteroid-sized splash at the box office and Cameron was hailed for its revolutionary special effects. His next directorial effort, 1994's True Lies, was another big-budget effort, costing over 100 million dollars; despite a promising opening weekend, it was not as great a success as many had predicted it would be. In addition to directing, Cameron acted as the film's producer and screenwriter, and cast favored collaborator Schwarzenegger in the lead role.

After a producing and screenwriting stint on the 1995 Strange Days (directed by Bigelow, whom Cameron divorced after taking up with Terminator star Linda Hamilton), Cameron decided to take a break from making films about big men and bigger guns. Instead, he decided to make a movie about a big boat and a bigger piece of ice. The result was 1997's Titanic. The film was troubled from the beginning: by a budget of astronomical proportions (originally budgeted at 125 million dollars, it eventually cost at least 200 million dollars, with the director forfeiting much of his salary and gross percentage points to finance it); by onset mishaps, such as food being laced with PCP by an anonymous prankster; and by the difficulty of filming the actual Titanic wreck on the ocean floor. Yet it proved an unqualified success. A love story combined with remarkable special effects, Titanic drew a cross section of viewers, led by teenage girls. In addition to becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, taking in over 600 million dollars in the U.S. alone, it received a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations, eventually winning 11. Upon receiving the film's Best Picture Oscar, after winning Best Director earlier in the evening, Cameron exulted "I'm the king of the world!" It was perhaps the most-quoted line from Titanic, thus making a permanent mark on television viewers, film enthusiasts, and incredulous media commentators everywhere. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide