Hollywood Project # 1 – James Cameron

It’s either 1987 or 1988. In any case, I’m very young. My parents, older sister, and one of my sister’s cute friends are watching a movie on TV. The music is urgent and tense. Marines pan flashlights down burned, darkened corridors. A girl about my age scurries through the debris. The marines rescue her. “It won’t make any difference,” she says. Before I know what’s happening, the marines are in a boiler room. Human eyes open from within a sticky cocoon. A woman pleads for death as her chest lurches unnaturally.

“Go to bed!” I’m ushered out of the room so rapidly that I know the movie is on the edge of something great. As I pass the recliner on the way to the hall, I sneak a peek around it, just in time to see a bloody, screaming creature explode from the woman’s rib cage.

I outrace Mom to my bedroom.

The next morning, I quizzed my sister over breakfast. “What happened to that robot guy?”

“Cut in half.”

“What about that lady soldier with the bandana?”

“She blew herself up.”

Cut in half? She blew herself up? WHOA.

I’d discovered James Cameron years before I knew his name.

James Cameron owned action films in the ‘80s and ‘90s, then reached his peak with the love story Titanic, a film he conceived, researched, wrote, directed, and even hand-modeled for. The film, once expected to be a surefire bomb, reaped almost two billion dollars in worldwide box office, and dominated at the Academy Awards where Cameron proclaimed himself – with good reason – the king of the world. Film lovers eagerly awaited his next spectacle.

A decade later, we’re still waiting. As the countdown to his new film, Avatar, stretches ever longer, questions surround it – has James Cameron been gone too long? Does he still have it? Can any new film, no matter how cool and experimental, possibly live up to this wait?

To guess the man’s future, however, we must look into his past. The films of James Cameron are the first Hollywood Project.

Fingerprint

Name: James Francis Cameron

Birth: 8/16/1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada.

Parents: Phillip Cameron (electrical engineer) and Shirley Cameron (artist/nurse)

Life: Cameron grew up in Ontario and showed early skill in painting, building, and photography. His parents were supportive of his talents, arranging art exhibits and supplying him with a 16mm camera and film. In his late teens, the family moved to Fullerton, California, where Cameron, torn between his passions in science and art, chose to study physics. Sensing a mistake, Cameron dropped out of courses and spent time driving trucks for the local school system while developing his skills in screenwriting and supporting his waitress wife, Sharon. The release of a new science-fiction epic, Star Wars, put Cameron firmly on his path. He became a regular at the library for the University of Southern California, devouring any and all theory on filmmaking and the sciences involved in it. He created a short film as a calling card and presented it to legendary B-picture director Roger Corman, who immediately put him to work.

Cameron is currently in his fifth marriage, and is the father of four children.

Career: Cameron apprenticed in Roger Corman’s infamous factory, working the special effects departments for such films as Battle Beyond the Stars and Galaxy of Terror. His intelligence and enthusiasm pushed him quickly up the ladder. One famous story has Cameron rigging a power line into a fake, maggoty arm so the bugs would writhe on his cue, just as important producers wandered by to see it. He finally received his directing break with Piranha II: The Spawning, then followed with The Terminator, Aliens, and the screenplay for Rambo II. Each became a monster success (minus the Piranha one), and Cameron was suddenly Hollywood’s go-to action/sci-fi prodigy. Cameron went on to direct some of the biggest action hits of the next 15 years, culminating in the legendary success of Titanic, which netted him a Best Director Oscar. Since then, Cameron’s career has gone low-key, focused on documentaries and TV specials. Cameron is finally returning to narrative film in 2009 with the 3D alien saga, Avatar.

Trademarks: Cameron’s films have a recurring theme -- acknowledged by the director -- of technology (particularly nuclear tech), and the benefits and dangers inherent in it. His films tend to feature strong female characters in lead roles. He often uses the ocean as a setting, and likes to use dream sequences to reveal a character’s fears.

Behind the camera, Cameron is known for his sometimes volatile temperament and cultivates an image as a perfectionist. His films often feature an innovation or new technology in a prominent role.

Number of Eligible Films: 8

Remarks: I don’t want to turn these articles into Psych 101, but sometimes it can’t be helped. If there’s a theme that jumps out from the life and career of James Cameron, it’s that bit about him being a perfectionist. As we’ll see throughout the countdown, Cameron is often the subject of his crew’s horror stories. He drives his employees to insane lengths, sometimes, in the pursuit of a shot or a schedule. He almost always writes his own scripts. For the love of… he’s been married five times. I’m not going to dwell on his private life, but that’s a clue. It’s as if he’s been waging a quest for the perfect woman, perhaps the same strong woman that drives so many of his films.

I’m interested in Cameron’s parents as well. It’s so perfect that I should be accused of making it up. If yellow and red make orange, then an engineer and an artist make a filmmaker. In his work, Cameron straddles the line between the science of what he’s doing and the art of it. His balance in both is the reason for his tremendous success.

(Note: The James Cameron Project is complete. Please enjoy the links below, which will take you through the entire Project, a film at a time.)

The James Cameron Project:

1. Aliens

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

3. Titanic

4. True Lies

5. The Terminator

6. The Abyss

7. Ghosts of the Abyss

8. Piranha II: The Spawning

The Mission

This site is about movies.

That’s pretty much the elevator pitch, so if you’re looking for Southern California zoning laws you are very lost. On the other hand, if your interest is piqued, I’ll continue.

This site is about engaging with movies. It’s about movies you like, movies you love, movies you hate, movies you hate to love, and love to hate. It’s about analyzing them, dissecting them, appreciating them, and admiring them. It’s about the details and the histories that link movies together. It’s about giving every movie – from the cheesiest b-grade to the snootiest chamber drama – equal footing to state its case and find an audience. But most of all, this site is about having fun with movies. It’s about being able to hang with the film critics without sacrificing that grin we got the first time we saw Unicron eat a planet or Charles F. Kane whisper his dying word.

It’s also about lists. Lots of them.

Film fans love lists. Most of us have a memorized list of our ten best films, or five best, or even just one holy favorite (the shortest list.) Nearly every critic has an annual list of favorites, which their readers study like scripture. The American Film Institute built fame with lists, sponsoring frequent televised countdowns of best movie lines, songs, heroes, villains, and the all-important Best American Films… twice. Want to send a movie lover into a rage? Make a list. (“Shawshank Redemption a better Steven King adaptation than Stand By Me? RAGE!”) There are lists for everything. Best superhero movie. Best silent horror film. I’d wager that if I type a random list topic into Google – say, “best John Wayne war movies” – I’d find at least one. (Actually, I found two on just the first page of results). Film and lists are so fixed together that it seems whenever a film fan isn’t watching a movie, somewhere deep down he’s making a list of reasons why.

Well, I’m a film fan, so The Hollywood Projects is my entry into the list commotion. For years, I’d considered analyzing genres or film movements through the movies of one specific director who worked in the topic. It seemed like a good idea for a while, but I found the flaw is that a director rarely spends his entire career in one particular genre, style, or… well, anything. The best directors mix it up. (Even Woody Allen made Sleeper.)

I abandoned that project, but the idea of analysis-through-director remained and blossomed into this site -- ranking a director’s complete works, whether they fit together or not. By using a shared director as the guidepost, we’ll be free to compare radically different films on the same playing field. Where else can we pit Boxcar Bertha face-to-face with The Age of Innocence? Animal House meets An American Werewolf in London? Piranha 2 against the Titanic?

The process begins with the selection of a new “Project”, a director whose work I deem interesting enough to warrant the time and effort. After devoting an article to that director’s “fingerprint” – nationality, background, interests, and other vital info that might influence his or her work – I’ll analyze and count down that director’s entire filmography, from worst to first, twice a week until we’re done. After a short break, I’ll select a new Project and the process begins again.

So that’s it. It’s really pretty simple. One director, one countdown, open forum for debate.

I’ll announce the subject of the first Project on Tuesday, July 1, and start counting down the following Thursday. Feel free to stop in and join the discussion as long as you believe in our Golden Rule – movies are fun. I won’t take any film completely seriously, and I hope you won’t either. Let’s laugh and argue and debate, but above all, let’s keep it happy.

In the meantime, here are some ground rules, not-so-cleverly disguised as a FAQ.

Q: WTF, asshole? Who died and made you the authority on movies?

A: Your mom.

Wait. I feel terrible. You should demand more from a movie blogger than pithy mom jokes. I apologize but, in my defense, that’s what you get for tossing around attitude on my site. You get old schooled.

The subtle nuance in your question suggests a desire for more information about me. My profile can be found off to the side over there, but the bottom line is that I’ve devoted a good chunk of my life to loving and experiencing film. I’m the guy my friends call when they need a movie opinion. If you knew me, maybe I’d be that guy for you. Maybe not. But the beauty of this site and the entire concept of The Hollywood Projects is that I don’t need any kind of special authority to make and defend a list. Everybody has their own already.

Q: Why directors? Isn’t that a little too focused on the auteur theory?

A: Well, yes. And no. First of all, I’m calling a ban on terms like “the auteur theory” or phrases like “the mise-en-scene and diegetic sound greatly assist with the semiotics of this sequence.” I want to use real words that mean actual things, not prancy film terms that make me sound smart.

To the question: The auteur theory is the French philosophy that the director of a film is its ultimate author. In the theory, the director supercedes everyone else, including producers, writers, actors, score composers, cinematographers, art directors, editors, etc. Personally, I believe that the auteur theory is bullshit…. to a point. Film is a collaborative effort, resulting from a wild thunderstorm of talent and effort and energy that is corralled by the director. To say the director is the sole author of any film is to poop on the collective efforts of hundreds of very talented people.

Now, that being said, the director certainly has the most influence on any film. The director dips his hands into every department, guiding them to match his overall vision. Therefore, while the films of Mark Wahlberg might be all over the map, the works of Tim Burton tend to resemble each other. It’s simply easier to see the similarities and make comparisons when focused on the director.

That’s not to say I will never do a Hollywood Project on, say, the films written by Dalton Trumbo. Just that I’m not planning to anytime soon.

Q: What are the qualifications to become a Hollywood Project?

A: A director must be “artistically significant”, an intentionally broad and loose definition. To be more specific, a director must have at least three feature films on his or her CV and must either 1.) have influence on at least two decades of cinema, or 2.) be dead. That may seem as if I’m setting the limbo bar rather high, but it allows me to let in reclusive masterminds like Terrence Malick, while disqualifying some hot, new flash-in-the-pan who strung together a few hits. Plus, I don’t want to get bogged down in too many rules. Fun is king!

Q: What kinds of films count for the list?

A: I’m glad you asked, mythical question guy! I need to compare apples at least somewhat to apples, so no short films. Documentaries are fine, as long as they are feature length. Also, I will only count down films in which the director gets SOLE credit. If he or she collaborates with a co-director, that film is off the list. There’s just no way to tell how much influence each director had over the finished film.

Q: What if you finish a project, but then that director makes a new film?

A: When this happens, I will give the new film time to sink into the public consciousness (probably waiting for it to hit home video, at least), then write it up and insert it into the director’s list wherever I think it should go. No film left behind.

Any more questions? If so, drop me a line. If not, check back on Tuesday, July 1, for the first Hollywood Project kick-off!