James Cameron doesn’t do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. No, James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is James Cameron, and although the Avatar director finds himself prepping for simultaneous production on three sequels to his Pandora-set box office juggernaut, he took a quick second to step away from that world to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Terminator, which turned into a critical and box office success, launching his career and allowing him to continually raise the bar the way we know him to do.
As with pretty much all popular franchises, save for Back to the Future, The Terminator is being rebooted, and with that comes speculation as to how franchise star Arnold Schwarzenegger will fit into the new movie given he’s not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Although Cameron isn’t actively involved in the production of Terminator: Genisys, he explained to Deadline he spoke with producer David Ellison — brother of Annapurna Pictures head and executive producer Megan Ellison — about how to integrate Arnold into the franchise and not feel the need to write around his age, but use it to the film’s benefit.
“I pointed out that the outer covering (of the Terminator) was actually not synthetic, that it was organic and therefore could age. You could theoretically have a Terminator that was sent back in time, missed his target, and ended up just kind of living on in society. Because he is a learning computer and has a brain as a central processor he could actually become more human as he went along without getting discovered.”
Aside from that, Cameron had a couple other interesting things to say, including that although he offered some advice, the Terminator franchise isn’t his problem anymore. “It’s like being a grandparent and the kids come over then you can send them back. I think the chain’s been broken by the films in between.” Cameron also addressed the state of Hollywood filmmaking and its lack of interesting ideas.
“Original ideas are rare in mainstream filmmaking. There has to be some underlying IP in order to gather enough momentum for studio executives to make decisions the way they make decisions, which is fear-based. They have to fear making the movie less than not making it. The moment they’re afraid the guy across the street will make the movie and they’ll look stupid – that’s when they’ll make the film. There’s no sense of ‘I want to make this movie, I believe in this movie.'”
It seems Cameron is echoing the sentiments of Star Wars director George Lucas, who told Charlie Rose he thinks studios are to blame for the lack of originality in mainstream cinema. “They don’t have any imagination and they don’t have any talent.” Tell us how you really feel, George.
This stance certainly isn’t unfounded, in fact I agree, but Lucas’ sentiments seem a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. And while Cameron hasn’t gone back to the well time and again to retouch and re-release the films that made him most popular, churning out three sequels to the biggest box office hit of all-time doesn’t exactly scream originality, even if his intention is to expand on the world he created and explore the depths of Pandora’s oceans.
