James Cameron is responding to fellow filmmaker Roland Emmerich’s criticism that he is “overbearing.”
Cameron, 69, has been trying to remake the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage for years. Emmerich was attached to direct it but exited in 2007. During a Directors on Directing panel at Comic-Con on July 26, Emmerich, 68, attendees he was working on the “beginning stages” of the sci-fi remake but found Cameron “overbearing,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
“So I, at one point, just gave up,” Emmerich, whose own resume includes Independence Day and White House Down, said. “I have to say, I do my stuff, and when I can’t do my stuff, I’m totally not interested. As simple as that. So when somebody else wants to say something to me and is more powerful than me, I drop out.”
“I’ve never said anything negative about Roland,” Cameron, 69, told THR in a separate interview published Monday, August 12.
“Damn right,” he said in response to Emmerich’s “overbearing” claims. “When it’s a project where I’ve contributed to the writing, I might actually have an opinion on it,” he explained. Cameron wrote a draft for Fantastic Voyage and remains a producer on the film.
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Cameron then noted that he doesn’t remember considering Emmerich for director.
“I actually don’t even remember talking to Roland Emmerich about Fantastic. I remember the other directors that we worked with for months on end trying to develop that project,” Cameron said. “If I talked to Roland, it was for two minutes. I have a pretty good memory and I don’t remember that at all.”
As for the status of the film, Cameron didn’t have an update. “Move on, that’s a non-story,” he told THR.
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Cameron was asked about the negative response to the recent 4K releases of Aliens and True Lies from some home video enthusiasts.
“When people start reviewing your grain structure, they need to move out of mom’s basement and meet somebody,” Cameron replied. “Right? I’m serious. I mean, are you f—ing kidding me?”
“I’ve got a great team that does the transfers. I do all the color and density work,” he continued. “I look at every shot, every frame, and then the final transfer is done by a guy who has been with me [for years]. All the Avatar films are done that way. Everything is done that way. Get a life, people, seriously.”
Finally, Cameron also revealed that he’s working on a “classified” Terminator project. He directed The Terminator (1984) and its blockbuster sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and was a producer on Terminator: Dark Fate (2019).
