The release of James Cameron’s sequel to 2009’s Avatar, that is Avatar: The Way of Water is shaping up to be another major blockbuster hit from the legendary director as it had the 11th biggest worldwide opening of all time, earning $441.7 million. So if there is ever a visionary you want to make sure your movie is a hit, Cameron’s number is the one to call.
Other than that, he has been the driving force behind lots of successful franchises and movies, such as the Terminator franchise as well as the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien. In fact, he has been such an influential figure that he even asked one of his former major stars to stop working on a franchise he started!
A Must-Read: Avatar: The Way of Water Totals Black Adam’s $391M Box Office Collection, Crosses $500M Mark in Just 1 Week
James Cameron Didn’t Want Arnold Schwarzenegger To Continue With Terminator Franchise
James Cameron is known for being a very difficult man to work with. His peers as well as work colleagues and actors he’s worked with all have, in one way or the other, exposed how demanding the Avatar director is.
And fans would think that Cameron would only extend his influence where he can, but as one such story suggests, he still went out of his way to dictate his own terms for a franchise he started- the Terminator franchise.
Speaking to MTV news, the Titanic director spoke about how he had his own plans for the franchise, and that one time when he asked the face of the franchise- Arnold Schwarzenegger- to step down from his role as T-800 in the then-upcoming movie Terminator Genisys-
“I was talking to him back in fall about a new Terminator film and quietly advising on that, I suppose you could say. I was trying to be as encouraging as possible. Frankly, at that time, I thought it needed to be more about him. I told him he should not do it until it’s focused on his character or he shouldn’t do it.”
Despite his strict rules and dedication to his craft, this quote makes it clear that the 68-year-old actor does care about his characters because after all, they are integral to the movie.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Wanted To Shift Attention Away From James Cameron For Terminator Genisys
Despite the critics failing to find any value in Terminator Genisys‘s plot, the commercial performance of the movie was off the charts. The fifth movie in the franchise grossed over $440 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of the franchise.
James Cameron was happy with how it performed, even to the point that he would praise the movie in a call with Schwarzenegger. During an interview with Collider Extra, the former Governor of California said-
“[James Cameron] saw the movie and he called me to say, ‘You’re fantastic in it. If I would’ve done this movie it would’ve done exactly this story because now you went in a different direction. It’s very refreshing,’ and all this. He was complimenting the movie and he was complimenting me.”
However, he was not too happy with the fact that Cameron’s reaction was used as promotional material for the movie-
“I did not like the idea that the studio went out and used it as a promotional material for the movie because I always felt that if you do that, it looks kind of like we need to have James Cameron say something good about the movie. Which we don’t because the movie is a straight 10, it’s a fantastic movie.”
Terminator Genisys saw Schwarzenegger return in his iconic role after having missed out on Terminator Salvation, and what a return it was!
Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet
