James Cameron: Lasting Impact

Q: But as to your films--

A: There are a lot of things which are on my mind with respect to technology, nuclear war, genetics, the environment, the ocean ... So far I've made essentially entertainment films and whatever message is in them is embedded, not way out front.

Q: Are you looking for an angle from which to approach any of these subjects?

A: I don't know. Yeah. I mean, not actively. I never thought of myself as that political. I think I'd like to make a movie about the ocean that's as stunning as it can be. I've said a lot about nuclear weapons--I don't think there's a lot more I can say about that, short of doing a Schindler's-like film about Hiroshima which nobody really wants to see, but they'll go to it anyway cause it'd be, you know, astounding. Which is something I actually started to write a few years ago--went to Hiroshima a few times. Something I might do someday.

Q: Is the threat of nuclear war more insidious today?

A: Insidious is the right word. Because, like in a good suspense film, the moment the person relaxes is when the killer strikes. You've got the Russians starving, their country's in chaos and to my knowledge they haven't dismantled one of their nuclear weapons and we've still got ours. Everyone thinks it's, "Boy! Whew! We got through that one." Uh--hello?

Q: Spielberg credits reaching a certain age and becoming a father with inspiring him to make Schindler's. Are you waiting to be similarly inspired?

A: He's had that book for 12 years. Quite frankly, you've got to have the confidence to make a movie you think isn't gonna make any money. He probably figured, nobody's going to go to a movie about the Holocaust. Maybe he didn't have the confidence until he made it. He attributes it to whatever--maturity. And that's valid. But he was always a pretty good filmmaker. I just think that it may be harder in general for a filmmaker who's been relied on by the system to deliver commercial products. I feel it myself.

Q: You were going to make The Crowded Room--a small drama about a serial rapist with multiple personalities--for Fox, but your involvement ended in litigation. Why?

A: I entered an arrangement with a partner. We had joint control of the material. This partner turned out to be someone I couldn't work with and who felt that they couldn't work with me. We parted ways. A script had been written, we'd cast John Cusack to play the guy, and I was in preproduction. I was ready to go shoot ... I will say that I believe this person behaved very unprofessionally.

Q: This person is executive producer Sandra Arcara?

A: Absolutely.

Q: The Crowded Room is based on a true story--the guy really exists.

A: Yeah. I got to know him, and he got in the middle of this whole thing because he wanted his story told. He was running around creating more chaos, filing law suits. It turned into madness.

Q: He's no doubt an interesting man.

A: Very. We kind of got to be friends but ultimately he contributed to the downfall of the project, at least in its incarnation with me. I sort of didn't want to tell his story anymore, you know?

Q: Are there any young or first-time directors whose work you've been impressed by recently?

A: I tend to be interested in the established guys who are operating at a level of craft I can relate to. I'd be much more interested in a Coppola film or a Spielberg film than I would in a first-time director, because it's not my business to promote first-time directors. But Dances With Wolves inspired me. An astonishing first movie. I mean, Kevin Costner can die now. He doesn't have to make another film. He did it his way and he had to put his money in it--the whole story's great. That's his Schindler's List. I wish he'd make another film.

Q: One doesn't often see or hear of you in the Hollywood spotlight.

A: You can stay out of it if you want to. I'm in the spotlight for a week or two when I release a movie every couple of years. I don't talk about my personal life. I never have. I just won't feed into that. Actors do, because I guess they don't have private lives. Their emotions, their whole beings are up there on the screen and people want to know everything about them. Actors seem to walk right into that with open arms. I don't know why.

Q: Well then, let's talk about your next film, Spider-Man, from the classic comic book.

A: Another deeply philosophical tome. Actually, it is. It has a much stronger moral underpinning than True Lies. I wrote it that way.

Q: There's always been a moral dimension to Spidey.

A: I've kind of expanded it to include the whole subject of teenage angst, and what if you were 17 and could do anything you fucking wanted anytime you wanted, and you didn't believe anything anybody said about right and wrong? What would you do? It's basically The Last Temptation of Peter Parker.

Q: So it's heavy, but it's got webs, too.

A: Heavy but fun--webs, all the stuff you want to see, but underneath it is a darker theme. As opposed to, for me, what is the reverse: Batman, which was all dark and brooding and moody but ultimately wasn't about anything. Sorry. I don't mean to trash another person's work. I mean, Tim did what he wanted to do, which is create the ultimate mood piece. But for me it didn't really take a stand on anything. This film will be completely different.

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Joshua Mooney interviewed Kristy Swanson for the April Movieline.

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