On August 16th, 1954, James Cameron was born into a middle-class family in Ontario, Canada. His father was an electrical engineer and his mother was an artist, which seemed destined to make him talented in both engineering and art from birth. As a teenager, James Cameron had extraordinary engineering ability and organizational ability. He once led his friends to build a trebuchet enough to leave a crater on the ground, and sent a mouse to the bottom of the Niagara River with a homemade submarine. In art, he studied painting with his mother for many years, held an exhibition in his hometown, and began to write science fiction at an early age. A science fiction novel he wrote at the age of 12 was regarded as the prototype of his science fiction film Abyss. At the age of 14, he saw the master Stanley? Kubrick's 21: A Space Odyssey. At that time, James Cameron was stunned and watched it in the cinema for as many as 1 times in a row. From then on, his desire to make movies sprouted in his mind. He began to shoot some crude films with his father's 8 mm camera.
After graduating from high school, James Cameron was admitted to the physics department of California State University. He soon became disappointed with the university courses and ran out of the campus to explore the society. He worked as a mechanic and drove a big truck for others. In 1977, James Cameron saw George? Lucas' classic sci-fi film Star Wars, he realized excitedly that this is what he wanted to create. This enabled James Cameron to establish his own direction in life and get busy with it. Without any professional training, he began to look for opportunities to become a filmmaker, became familiar with all kinds of film-making equipment from the lens to the camera guide, and even made his first shooting plan with his friends, hoping to make a 1-minute sci-fi film with the equipment at hand and the self-made model!
James Cameron was lucky. His talent was quickly won by Hollywood producer Roger? Kaman's appreciation, from Roger? Kaman got his first film job-making stunt models for Kaman's 198 film Star Wars. The next year, he was promoted to the second group director and film production designer of another film of this studio, The Horror Galaxy. James Cameron is one of the few directors who came from special effects design. In his later film creation, James Cameron always put special effects production in an extremely important position, and often personally participated in the design and implementation of special effects production. In James Cameron's films, excellent stunt production not only always creates a stunning and exciting visual effect, but also can naturally blend in with the plot without the feeling of being stiff and showing off. But that doesn't mean that stunts are all about James Cameron's movies. James Cameron is not only an excellent stunt engineer, but also has an imagination that ordinary engineers don't have, and some other things.
in p>1981, James Cameron's first directorial work came out. The film Piranha 2: Reproduction was filmed entirely in Italy. James Cameron didn't get along well with the Italian-speaking staff, but after the filming, the producers refused to let him participate in the final editing of the film out of contempt for the fledgling director. In a rage, 25-year-old James Cameron pried open the door of the studio with a credit card, managed to learn to use the Italian editing machine by himself, and edited the whole film by himself in a few weeks. In the process, James Cameron made up his mind to stop working for anyone and make his own film.
During his stay in Italy, James Cameron suffered from illness, hunger and poverty. The painful experience made him have nightmares every night. Once he had a very clear nightmare: being chased by a machine killer from the future. According to the content of the nightmare, James Cameron wrote a screenplay "Terminator" which was full of his outstanding talents. He sold the script to the producer Goyle for one dollar? Annie? Hurt, on condition that he directs the film in his own way. Goyle agreed to his request. In 1984, James Cameron released his first film, Terminator. The film cost only $6.5 million, but earned $36 million at the domestic box office, and won unanimous praise from fans and critics.
The success of Terminator made James Cameron gain wide attention in the film industry. In 1985, James Cameron and Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay of First Blood 2, which was also a box office success.
In p>1986, Alien 2, the second work written and directed by James Cameron, came out. This film is the famous director Ridley? A remake of Scott's sci-fi classic Alien. The sequel of this film, directed by James Cameron, wisely avoided repeating the style of the original film, but moved the battlefield of man and aliens from a single spaceship to a huge space base, reinterpreted the horror story that happened in space in the style of an action film, and the whole film was permeated with a heroic spirit. The visual effect of this film is absolutely first-class, its artistic design gives people a pure (not formalistic) mechanical aesthetic pleasure that Cameron's films have always had, and its stunt production can also be called the peak before computer-generated images participated in film production. Alien received seven Oscar nominations, including West Gounel? Weaver was nominated for Best Actress, and won the Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effect Awards.
In p>1989, the Abyss, the third heavyweight work written and directed by James Cameron, came out. This sci-fi film is somewhat different from other similar works of Cameron. Although it is interspersed with many thrilling fights and descriptions of mysterious creatures on the sea floor, it focuses on telling a story about the feelings of husband and wife in a sci-fi background at a slower pace. Many viewers think that the slow pace of this film makes people sleepy, which makes the box office of this film not as good as Cameron's other films. But there are also many fans who are moved by the feelings of the characters in the film. When writing the script of Abyss, Cameron was experiencing a relationship with his second wife, filmmaker Goyle? Annie? Hurd's emotional crisis naturally brought his own experience into his creation and made the emotional entanglement between the hero and heroine touching.
In p>1991, Terminator 2, which was long-awaited by fans, finally surfaced. This film shocked the film industry and earned 2 million US dollars at the domestic box office, winning four Oscars (best visual effect, best sound, best makeup and best sound editing). Terminator 2 announced the coming of an era, and people finally believed that the film stunt performance was omnipotent, and the only constraint was people's imagination. In every single scene, James Cameron also played an outstanding role in directing and editing, and reached a perfect level in scene scheduling, montage use and time control (too short is not enough, too long is boring).
After Terminator 2, James Cameron set up his own special effects production company "Digital Domain" in 1993, competing with Lucas' "Industrial Light Magic". In 1994, the first special effects film "True Lies" produced by "Digital Domain" was released. This film attempts to organically combine spy thrillers with comedy plots, and successfully explores the humorous potential of action star Schwarzenegger, but it leaves the deepest impression on the "Harrier" VTOL fighter at the end. The scene in which it launched the "Mavericks" missile and hit the cross-sea bridge under the background of sea and sky is both spectacular and beautiful, and it has the same realism as a military exercise; Later, the fight on the wing showed a complicated and exaggerated cartoon style. As a director, James Cameron can select this unique weapon to play an "important role" in the film, and exert its charm to the extreme, which once again proves his special hobby and perception of machine beauty. On the other hand, contrary to the fact that most films depict secret agents as ruthless killing machines, True Lies depicts them as "good people" in the traditional sense, which once again embodies Cameron's unique optimism.
In p>1997, James Cameron filmed the famous Titanic. The spirit of pursuing the perfect goal in his mind was the highest embodiment in Titanic. James Cameron personally handled almost everything, from drawing stress analysis diagrams for stunt people to explaining the principle of sinking a big ship to drawing sketches for Jack in the film. During the filming, James Cameron was also very strict with the actors and staff. The coldness of the investors, the complaints from his staff, the freezing sea water, and the unimaginable difficulties encountered in the filming process all brought Cameron to the brink of collapse, but he still persisted and shouted the heroic words that were almost tragic: "Titanic can sink, Titanic can't sink!"
all these efforts were not in vain after all. Three months after the release of Titanic, the box office revenue in the United States was as high as 47 million dollars, while the international box office exceeded 1.8 billion dollars, making this film one of the highest-grossing films. This film was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 11 of them, which tied the record of Ben Xu. James Cameron won the 7th Academy Award for Best Director. At the awards party, Cameron raised the Oscar almost crazily and loudly said the famous lines in the film: "I am the king of the world!" "
After his glory, James Cameron unexpectedly chose to disappear. After Titanic, he never released a big screen work. It was not until 25 that he officially announced the start of his new film, Avatar, which is a sci-fi film with real-life performance and computer CG animation. In an exclusive interview with Time magazine in the United States, the Hollywood director who can burn money and make money best admitted that it is difficult for this film to surpass Titanic at the box office, but he immediately added: No one can surpass Titanic. The great director who once shouted "I am the king of the world" at the Oscar ceremony and was described by many as a "tyrant" is still a domineering look.
Avatar, known as the most expensive movie in history, finally broke the global box office record of Titanic for 13 years with US$ 1.859 billion 39 days after its global release. Director James Cameron easily surpassed himself and became the "king of the world" again. At present, the box office of Avatar has easily surpassed an astonishing $2 billion. Not surprisingly, this data will be dusty for a long time to come, waiting for the next amazing work to appear. Avatar not only set a new global box office record, but also made a great success in North America. Avatar was released in North America for 47 days, with a total income of 61.1 million US dollars, surpassing the previous record of 61. million of Titanic and becoming a new local box office champion. On the mainland, according to the incomplete statistics of the cinema, as of February 28th, the box office of Avatar in the mainland has exceeded 1.23 billion yuan. According to foreign media reports, the box office of Avatar in China has accumulated to US$ 18 million, ranking second in the world after US$ 77 million in North America. This means that China's single-chip box office entered the "1 million dollar club" for the first time, and China, like North America, French and Japanese, became the A-level market in Hollywood.
achievements and honors
best director award of the 7th Oscar in 1998
best director award of the 55th Golden Globe Award in 1998
best director award of the Kansas City Film Critics Association in 1998
best director award of the Las Vegas Film Critics Association in 1998
best director award of the 67th Golden Globe Award in p>p>21. The 15th Best Director Award of the Imperial Film Association
The top two in the box office list of film history were swept by James Cameron
His film * * * won the Best Visual Effects Award of the 5th Academy Awards.