Reputation
Cameron has been labeled by one collaborator, author Orson Scott Card, as selfish and cruel. When asked about working with Cameron on the novelization of The Abyss, Card said the experience was "hell on wheels. He was very nice to me, because I could afford to walk away. But he made everyone around him miserable, and his unkindness did nothing to improve the film in any way. Nor did it motivate people to work faster or better. And unless he changes his way of working with people, I hope he never directs anything of mine. In fact, now that this is in print, I can fairly guarantee that he will never direct anything of mine. Life is too short to collaborate with selfish, cruel people."
After working with Cameron on Titanic, Kate Winslet decided she would not work with Cameron again unless she earned "a lot of money." She said that Cameron was a nice man, but she found his temper difficult to deal with. In an editorial, the British newspaper The Independent said that Cameron "is a nightmare to work with. Studios have come to fear his habit of straying way over schedule and over budget. He is notorious on set for his uncompromising and dictatorial manner, as well as his flaming temper."
Sam Worthington, the latest lead actor to work with Cameron, stated on The Jay Leno Show that Cameron had very high expectations from everyone, and would often use a nail gun to nail the film crew's cell phones to a wall above an exit door in retaliation for unwanted ringing during production. Other actors, such as Bill Paxton and Sigourney Weaver, have praised Cameron's perfectionism. Weaver said of Cameron: "He really does want us to risk our lives and limbs for the shot, but he doesn't mind risking his own." Michael Biehn has also praised Cameron, claiming "Jim is a really passionate person. He cares more about his movies than other directors care about their movies", but added "I’ve never seen him yell at anybody." However, Biehn did claim Cameron is "not real sensitive when it comes to actors."
Additionally, composer James Horner refused to work with Cameron for ten years following their strained working relationship on 1986's Aliens, but they eventually settled their differences, and Horner went on to score both Titanic and Avatar for Cameron.
An episode of South Park that first aired on October 3, 2012 poked fun at James Cameron's reputation for being self-centered, by depicting the director as being whiny and obsessed with his own name and abilities. He is seen going deep sea diving while playing his own theme song and appearing oblivious to his overly unenthusiastic and bored ship crew. However, the episode also credits him for "raising the bar" on entertainment. At the end of the episode, the character speaks in third person, saying "James Cameron does not do what James Cameron does for James Cameron... James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron IS James Cameron."
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Famous quotes containing the word reputation:
“The relatives of a suicide hold it against him that out of consideration for their reputation he did not remain alive.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.”
—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
“Talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)