Why is James Cameron perhaps the main director of our time?

James Cameron studied physics at the University of California, but fortunately did not agree with the exact sciences, and now three films (Avatar, Titanic, Avatar: The Way of Water) have been shot in the top ten highest-grossing films in history. by him. That makes him the most commercially successful, if not the greatest, director of our time—definitely. Some dry facts: Titanic was the first movie to gross a billion dollars at the box office and held the title of the highest-grossing movie of all time for 12 years until it was overtaken by Avatar. The latter, by the way, held his palm for ten years, then briefly gave way to the last “Avengers”, but soon returned to the top of the pedestal. And 13 years later, when the revolutionary second part of its time “Avatar” came out on the screens, a new record race began for James Cameron, which he continued to be successful in. And given the director’s plans to make three more sequels, it’s quite possible that by the end of the decade the highest-grossing films in film history will make up at least half of his projects.

In an interview with IndieWire, James Cameron said that before working on Avatar sequels, he forced the writers to seek the secret to the success of the first movie in the series, under threat of being fired. He shared: “They did what writers do, that is, try to create new stories. I said, “We have to understand what our connection to the audience is and protect it, we have to protect this ember and this flame.” is applying.

James Cameron is just one of those trying to reinvent the wheel, and as such, he’s often personally involved in screenwriting, editing, inventing new technologies, and as a result, what no one before him has done – and exactly does. he wanted

“Avatar”, for example, saw the light of day as early as 1999, but the director was not satisfied with the level of technology development and devoted several years to developing special effects – as a result, the film was released ten times. years later than originally planned, but from it a fundamentally new era began in the world of 3D.

We also saw incredibly realistic facial animation on set, for which James Cameron was personally responsible, and watched in real time what the characters would look like after software rendering. Then, for example, Thanos from the Avengers will be made according to the same principle.

Such rigor bothers the director everywhere: four years before the premiere of Titanic, he personally made 12 dives aboard the ship with an underwater camera system created by his brother, during the filming of The Abyss, the film crew had to pass a professional course. The divers and actors playing in “Strangers” paratroopers were sent to training at a military camp.

What can I say, if for the sake of the second “Avatar” the casting also had to try, and for example, Kate Winslet learned to hold her breath under water for 7 minutes and 14 seconds.

Yes, James Cameron isn’t afraid to take risks, but if now the studios were taking that risk with him, knowing it would work and giving the director a full blank check, then at the dawn of his career, there was still a promising writer. accepting self-compromise.

He sold the screenplay for The Terminator—his original invention—for a symbolic dollar on the condition that he personally undertake the production, with a modest budget of six million and mostly handcrafted special effects. created a movie that has become the standard of the genre.

And when he bought Avatar, he agreed to give up a portion of his fee in case the film was a commercial failure to persuade Fox to greenlight the shoot. Then one of the studio’s leaders said: “Maybe we’re crazy for letting you do this, or you’re crazy because you think you can.” Did it work? James Cameron continues to prove that if he is sitting in the director’s chair from time to time, there can be no answer other than the positive. And his attention to detail and the seemingly absolute absence of fear of the unknown only confirm this.