After Avatar 2: The Way of Water at the latest, all doubts should be cleared: James Cameron is one of them most visionary filmmaker in the history of moving pictures and manages to lure the masses to the cinema with amazing accuracy. Nevertheless, he often has to assert himself against doubts and skepticism.
James Cameron really wanted to direct the sci-fi sequel Aliens, but nobody believed in him
From the very beginning of his career, Cameron made every effort to attract those responsible for the studios in Hollywood to convince of his ideas. He had a particularly difficult time with the sci-fi sequel Aliens – The Return. Cameron 2022 revealed to Empire how he got the director’s post against all odds.
I had lunch with a key producer when I was about to start Aliens. And he said: ‘You can only lose with this. If the film is good, Ridley gets it [Scott] the recognition. If he’s bad, it’s your fault. It’s a career destroyer.’Alien$: Cameron turned the S in Aliens into a dollar sign and the rest is history
Cameron was so confident in his vision that he tried everything to get the Aliens gig. A little trick helped him in particular, as he reveals.
I was in a meeting with the studio head and executive producers. I turned my script over and wrote the word ALIEN on the blank back. Then I put an S at the end and two dashes drawn through the S. So I showed them that.
With this prospect of a rain of money, none of the decision-makers had any further objections. Cameron was allowed to implement Alien$ and thus has one of the best films of his career created. Success was also on his side. With a budget of $18 million, the film grossed over $180 million.
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