OUR JOURNEY INTO the Cameronverse begins at Lightstorm Entertainment in Manhattan Beach, the independent production company founded by Canadian director, technologist, and explorer James Cameron in 1990. Inside, it resembles a museum more than a traditional film studio. To reach Cameron’s office, you first walk through a hangar filled with an extensive collection of movie props. Here, life-size statues of Jake and Neytiri, the blue protagonists of the Avatar saga, stand alongside the steel skeleton of the Terminator, a replica of the infamous Queen from Aliens, and two models of the Titanic – representing both the massive structure used for underwater shots and the wreck featured in the documentary.
This impressive display perfectly sets the stage for a meeting with the visionary filmmaker behind legendary works like The Terminator and Aliens. Cameron has earned the title of box office king, with his movies – including Titanic and the two Avatar films (so far) – grossing $7.5 billion worldwide. A relentless storyteller, his passion for the ocean began with The Abyss, much of which was shot underwater in a 7.5 million-gallon tank at a decommissioned nuclear facility, continued with Titanic, which won 11 Oscars, and is now culminating in the highly anticipated third instalment of his Avatar series: Fire and Ash, set to hit theatres on December 17th.
“Un espresso?” Cameron asks in surprisingly fluent Italian as he welcomes us into a conference room adorned with his sketches and posters from his youth. He then sits down, ready to discuss his latest film, nature, technology, Hollywood, and the future ahead.
ESQ The message of the first Avatar was quite clear: it addressed themes of environmental protection, corporate greed, and the vulnerability of indigenous peoples.
JC However, the second film, The Way of Water, shifts its focus to the devastation of rainforests and oceans, tackling issues such as pollution, overfishing, and whaling. I’m so passionate about protecting these environments that I even created a series for National Geographic. In Fire and Ash, the emphasis on environmental issues took a back seat, as I had a specific theme in mind for that project.
ESQ Which theme was that?
JC The theme of loss. I felt compelled to explore its meaning and consequences. I believe that big commercial movies, like superhero blockbusters, often miss the mark when covering this topic. Losing someone you love, like Neytiri and Jake Sully at the end of Avatar 2, changes your life forever. The vengeful reactions often seen in those movies feel unrealistic; that’s not how people truly process grief. Grief can be paralysing, and that’s what happens with Neytiri at the beginning of Fire and Ash. My goal was to represent the human experience authentically: behind these big blue aliens lies a profound story about family and loss. It’s a film made by humans, for humans.
ESQ What do the fire and ashes in the title symbolise?
JC They directly refer to a hostile clan that appears in the new episode, but fire is also a symbol of destruction and hatred; it’s a chaotic and devastating force. It brings to mind what we experienced in Los Angeles, where flames devoured homes and neighbourhoods. The ashes symbolise mourning. It’s the pain that fuels the fire of hatred in an endless cycle. Think about the Israeli-Palestinian situation or Russia’s aggression in Ukraine – these conflicts just keep going, with each side blaming the other. How can we break this cycle?
These themes are prevalent in the film. Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 flow together as two parts of a single narrative, while episodes 4 and 5 will explore a different storyline, if I get to make them. I truly hope that I will and am looking forward to it.
ESQ With the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, everyone is eager to see if your film can save the box office this year.
JC From this perspective, I see Avatar as a bit of a standout in the market; it always has been. Can it save the industry? No, of course not. However, we can hope to make some profit and demonstrate what cinema can still achieve. I can’t predict the future, but I do know that we’ve got a good film.
ESQ How’s Hollywood doing these days?
JC It’s taking a hit. During the pandemic, we saw the rise of streaming platforms, with big tech companies throwing money at filmmakers, luring them with irresistible deals, larger budgets, and the promise of the same high quality as movies in theatres – minus the restrictions, running time limits, or censorship. So, everyone jumped on board. But then, out of nowhere, budgets dropped to half or even a third of what they had been five years earlier. The decline in funding worsened further due to the strikes.
ESQ How is that?
JC The timing of the strikes could not have been worse. They did bring some benefits to screenwriters and actors, but many crew members faced job losses. At the same time, films that rely heavily on impressive visual effects are no longer being approved; they’re too costly, and the real expense comes not from the technology but from the people – the artists who create those visual effects.
ESQ Without replacing the actors?
JC Not at all. We celebrate and honour the actors. We never force them or try to push fake emotions onto them. If I want the scene to feel more emotional, I simply ask the actor, because I trust the process. It took a long time to get those authentic performances down. But let’s not confuse today’s AI with the AGI from Terminator 2; that would be really dangerous. Thankfully, we’re not there yet.
ESQ Are you concerned?
JC I can’t deny it. All my films ultimately say the same thing: we’re screwed. But they also say we’re clever and strong, and that love is what keeps us together, much like the bond between mothers and daughters in Aliens and The Terminator. I’ve been a huge fan of science fiction since I was a kid because it looks to the future. Sometimes it tries to predict it and fails miserably. Other times, it gets it right. But its main role is to hold a mirror up to who we are today and get us thinking: Where are we headed? What happens if things get worse? What if they just stay the same? It’s always about dark futures. Nobody writes books where the wonderful looks wonderful. You need some conflict to fuel the drama.
ESQ Has your success in the film industry given you more creative freedom?
JC Thanks to Titanic, the highest-grossing film of all time and the one that sold the most tickets, I decided to pursue an alternative path that I had previously dismissed: science, exploration, and technology. So, for years, I turned my back on Hollywood and dedicated myself to exploring the depths of the ocean. I did that for seven years, from 1998 to 2005. Then, in 2005, I began my adventure with Avatar, which took over my life for a while.
ESQ Do you miss diving?
JC I loved freediving; I used to dive down to 40 meters, but I can no longer hit those depths. I still enjoy scuba diving because it allows me to reach any depth safely, as it’s balanced and compensates for pressure. Then there are submarines, which are a whole different experience. When you venture into one, you’re putting your life in the hands of technology, but you also need to have a grasp of engineering and physics. When I descended into the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth in the Mariana Trench, I became the third person to reach that depth. The first ones did it in 1960 including my dear friend Don Walsh.
ESQ You need to be well-equipped to reach those depths.
JC From head to toe – or more like up to my wrists (laughs) – as I’ve got my trusty Rolex with me. I’ve had a great relationship with them for 13 years, since they became a sponsor for my 2012 expedition. They designed a special watch from scratch, and it went with me all the way down to the deepest point of the world’s oceans, enduring a pressure of 16,500 psi. It’s massive and solid, even larger than the one I’m wearing now, and it commemorates my solo dive. The dial transitions from blue to black, symbolising the shift from sunlight to darkness. The green text matches the colour of the submersible I was in. It’s a special edition of the Deepsea.
CREDITS:
Talent: JAMES CAMERON
Style: NIK PIRAS
Photographer: JOHAN SANDBERG
Interview: ROBERTO CROCI
Grooming: NADEGE SCHOENFELD
Style assistant: VALERIE TRONOLONE
Light assistant: ROBERT KOZEK
2nd light assistant: PATRICK FREYNE
Digital: CHRIS NICHOLS
Production: SABRINA BEARZOTTI
Fashion: James Cameron’s Own Clothes. ROLEX Watch, Oyster Perpetual Rolex Deepsea in Oystersteel with a Cerachrom bezel insert in black ceramic and an Oyster bracelet.
