Biography of James Cameron | Canadian filmmaker.

(James Francis Cameron;) Kapuskasing, Ontario, 1954) Canadian filmmaker. Specialized initially in futuristic films and science fiction with a good dose of action and special effects, was then the architect of Titanic (1997), great blockbuster in which joined the catastrophe of the wreck with a romantic story. The film scored the equaliser with their eleven Oscar Ben-Hur and unseated the Star Wars as the highest grossing in history. Twelve years later, the director broke his own fundraising record with the film in 3D Avatar (2009), much less appreciated by critics.

James Cameron

James Cameron was the first of the five children of the marriage formed by Philip, nurse, engineer, and Shirley. According to his mother, the little James life changed when, in 1968, he attended the screening of 2001: a space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, and discovered the genre of science fiction. In 1971, for business reasons, the Cameron settled in Orange County, California, where James call his studies at Fullerton College with its long hours in the library to read film scripts. He studied physics at the University of the State of California, but could his passion for cinema and soon decided to start his film voyage.

The beginnings were not easy. While at night he wrote scripts and painted (is a seasoned Illustrator who makes their own storyboards), was a school bus driver and truck driver. In 1978 he married waitress Sharon Williams, which would be the first of a series of failed relationships; they divorced in 1984. It was in 1978 when he wrote and directed, with Randall Frakes, his first short, Xenogenesis. Although it was not released, the short (twelve minutes long, with much animation, Visual effects and matte paintings) already hinted some of the advantages that characterized the Filmography of Cameron and opened doors in the film industry as artistic director and supervisor of special effects of Roger Corman (New World Pictures), facets that developed professionally for the first time in the film the magnificent space seven (1980).

The first experience of Cameron as a feature film director could not be more frustrating. Hired to shoot Piranha 2: the vampires of the sea (1981), his disagreements with producers led him to decide that henceforth it only directed films with own scripts. Three years later he premiered the Terminator (1984), a fast-paced futuristic production in which the muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger gave life to the cyborg Terminator T-800. The film, low budget and produced by which would be his second wife between 1985 and 1989, Gale Anne Hurt, was a success of public and critics and garnered several awards, including the Saturn to the best makeup, best science fiction film and best screenplay. In 2008 it had the honour to be included in the national register of cinema of the National Library of the United States.

Terminator 2: judgment day (1991)

To Terminator, considered one of the films of the Decade and a classic for its revolutionary special effects, they would continue several titles that helped increase its popularity. Aliens, the return (1986, director and scriptwriter) winner of two awards was Oscar of the Academy (best visual effects and sound effects) and confirmed his reputation as one of the most skillful directors of science fiction. But his next film, the Abyss (1989, director and scriptwriter), was a resounding critical and commercial failure.

He would succeed with the sequel Terminator 2: judgment day (1991, director, screenwriter and producer), film in which for the first time gave rein to the immense possibilities of computer-generated special effects and who won four Oscar (best visual effects, best sound, best makeup and best sound editing). Cameron was also director and screenwriter of true lies (1994), and at the same time, executive producer called Bodhi (1991), a film directed by her then-third wife, Kathryn Bigelow. This marriage also worked, but the two filmmakers kept a good professional relationship, as evidenced by the fact that, in 1995, Canada produced and signed the script of the next film of the Director, strange days.

Appreciated as an important figure in their favorite genres, James Cameron surprised then with a new record bringing to the screen the tragedy of the Titanic. Director, screenwriter and producer of the film, Cameron Street, in Titanic (1997), a Hollywood-style blockbuster, ascribed alike to the genre of disasters and the romantic melodrama, and an unusual quality. Perhaps more typical of the glorious times of the epic film film epic, this economically perilous adventure (two of the major producers of Hollywood had to unite to deal with the budget) unseated the Star Wars film highest grossing cinema history, placing the bar at over 1,843 million dollars raised in the world. A record which oddly would snatch him, twelve years later, another film by the same director.

Although romantic melodrama which tells Titanic is pure fiction, the framework in which develops is history, and James Cameron wanted to rebuild it with the greater truth, documenting widely: fell camera from Panavision to some deep ocean that had never come to film the remains of the ship; It recreated the most minute details of the boat, which was rebuilt on a beach in Mexico, entrusting even some elements (davits, carpets, etc.) to the same companies that built the original 1912; and he gave up his salary to see his dream on the screen.

Titanic (1997)

The effort was worth it: the scenes of the sinking of the famous ocean liner, which cost a real fortune, achieve an effect difficult to explain has not seen who the film. Hundreds of extras move desperate and in perfect sync on the surface of a perfect reconstruction of the Titanic, while the camera jumps deftly bridge to the lifeboats, and from there to the wineries. Actors, extras and the public sink then again with the giant, and it's not hard to believe that very similarly to as happened in reality.

Titanic equalled the record of Oscar who was Ben-Hur (1959), confirming the success record of the film. The Academy only left no award nominations for best actress (Kate Winslet), best make-up and best supporting actress (Gloria Stuart). Leonardo di Caprio, the protagonist of the film and one of its top attractions, especially of face to the youth audience, had not been nominated. Although stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, Titanic had soared to actors, the Academy did not appear to appreciate the romantic story of the film, the reverse of what made the public. James Cameron broke here with a classic disaster movie item as it is the crossroads of histories of multiple characters, and replaced it with a tragic story of impossible love. Fox and Paramount already do not hesitate to point out this election as one of the key aspects that explain its overwhelming success.

The Oscar selection left it clear that Hollywood rewarded above all the meticulous reconstruction of the catastrophe that had carried out James Cameron and his team, and the attention that was given to the development of all aspects of the film: art direction, photography, costume, sound and special effects. The Oscar won also the memorable soundtrack composed by James Horner, author as well as the famous song My Heart Will Go On, also oscarizada and performed by Celine Dion. Cameron took the statuettes to the best director, best editing and best production.

The year of the premiere of Titanic, 1997, filmmaker went to try his luck with women and is married to Linda Hamilton, Sarah Connor from the Terminator. The couple had a son, but once more the marriage failed and Cameron chained a new divorce. He remarried in 2000 with former model and actress Suzy Amis, which would have three children. After the success of Titanic, Cameron embarked on the realization of documentaries, such as the powerful Aliens of the Deep (creatures of the abyss, 2005), in which experimented with the techniques of the IMAX 3D format.

Film and technological advances were soon to allow him to recover an old project that rested at the bottom of a drawer and return to the genre of science fiction. The expectation that generated Avatar (2009) was huge. Protected by a spectacular marketing campaign, was presented as a film of tecnico-visual perfection, which used the most modern and innovative cinematographic techniques and would mark a before and an after not only in genre, but in cinematography in general.

Avatar was released on December 18, 2009 in United States cinema RealD and IMAX 3D. Cameron signed the script, direction and production. Five weeks later, on January 25, 2010, it had raised worldwide 1.858 million dollars and discontent to Titanic in the historical records of box office war. In the gala of the 67th Edition of the Golden Globes on January 17 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, the film won the awards for best film and best director. But in the race for the Oscars (aspired to nine statuettes, including best director and best film), Avatar was the big loser, falling defeated by the war on hostile ground, curiously directed by his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, who was the first woman who achieved the Oscar for Best Director.

After sweeping to victory on screens around the world, on April 22, 2010, coinciding with the day of the Earth, the Canadian director presented the AvatarBlu-ray version. 1.5 million units in this format, a new historical record for the film were sold in United States in one day. Part of the funds were intended to further the environmentalist agenda Home Tree Initiative, which provided planting one million trees in 2010. After the success of Avatar, Cameron announced that it was preparing the reissue of Titanic in 3D; premiered in 2012, was very well received by the public and the critics.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas