Content: about 7000 words, suitable for reading while sitting on the toilet.
Avatar 2 has a new twist.
Netizens are not without emotion: it is not easy, it is really a long time to see. It's reminiscent of the man holding the little golden man on the podium of the 70th Academy Awards 22 years ago, and his brazen line: "I'm the king of the world!"
I am the "King of the World"
Before that, in 1997, no one believed that a shipwreck called the Titanic could sweep the world and make a name for itself.
In 2009, it is impossible to imagine that someone spent 300 million yuan on an alien planet to perform a story of demolition and reached a new technological breakthrough in the film industry.
There is only one person in the world who is called the "King of the World", this person is not Jack who died for love, his name is James Francis Cameron.
However, in the context of world cinema, you can say that Hitchcock has a story, that Spielberg has wisdom, that Kubrick has thoughts, that Akira Kusawa is profound enough, that Kieslowski is talented.
Say what Cameron has?
Rich? (Big version of Batman Rambling)
No. Have confidence.
Without the Avengers, the world's top box office hits first and second would have come from Cameron.
This is the essence of the "King of the World".
"Avatar" and "Titanic" global box office runner-up/runner-up films
But, like Simba (lion, not anchor), every moment the king blooms, he has to go through the trials of time, even if he is Cameron, a low-prolific film director, a man who makes movies to make money to support his conquest of the Mariana Trench.
/Manual dog head
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > big dreams for truck drivers</h1>
Ontario, Canada, 1954.
A boy was born.
No one could have foreseen what the boy in the small town of Kapuskasin would achieve in the future.
Cameron as a child
The boy's father, Philip Cameron, was a local electrical engineer with the usual German personality traits, mentally and meticulously, while his mother, Shirley, was energetic and creative, and had joined the Canadian Women's Army in addition to painting. Such a family composition has made Cameron have cross-border thinking since childhood, on the one hand, he is born with a technical worship psychology, on the other hand, he has a broad imagination and artistic talent.
At the age of 5, because of his father's job transfer, the family moved to Niagara Falls, and then to Chipava. At this time, the Cameron family began to grow. Mike, Valerie, Terri, John and other younger siblings arrived one after another, and Cameron suddenly became the king of children, and saw the cat teasing the dog. In addition to making scrap iron planes and trebuchets, Cameron also took his friends to make a cute submarine made from mayonnaise cans and paint buckets, and successfully delivered a rat to the bottom of the Niagara River, stayed for a while and then fished it out.
The rat is still alive.
Mouse Inside: @#!$%*
In addition, Cameron resolutely inherited his mother's artistic talent, and at the age of 14 he painted a painting of the nativity of Jesus for a bank, and successfully earned his first pot of gold - $100. It was also this year that he watched Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Immediately stunned, he watched N times, he also bought a movie model kit, based on the thick behind-the-scenes production materials began to build his own spaceship, and even used his father's 8 mm camera to start shooting some simple films.
Handsome guy Cameron and his paintings
In 1971, 17-year-old Cameron moved with his family to Orange County, Southern California, usa. After graduating from high school, Cameron studied physics at a two-year community college in California, but soon decided to switch to English literature. However, changing majors did not attract him. "My father graduated from college. But I don't want to replicate his life, I don't want to do that kind of decent work. So Cameron, 20, dropped out of school to work as a repairman and then drive a big truck for $4 an hour. That's right, the big truck from Terminator 2. He drove trucks during the day and wrote scripts and painted scenes at night, always maintaining his interests and dreams: "I became a blue-collar worker. But in my heart, I've always considered myself an artist. So I never stopped making painting, writing, and special effects films. ”
In 1977, Lucas's Star Wars was released.
Cameron was excited and anxious at the same time. For him, Lucas had turned the imagination and longing in his mind into reality. He decided to act immediately—began tinkering with all kinds of filmmaking equipment, laying slides in the house; becoming a regular visitor to the library, copying and trancribing papers on film design and stunt production. Movies are finally all he has.
During this time, Cameron met two people: William Wescher and Randall Flax. The three were interested in the same thing, hit it off, got a group of dentists to invest, and then produced a 12-minute special effects short film called "Generational Change" (aka: Xenotransplantation).
This film condenses a lot of Cameron's film and opens the door of the film circle for him.
Hollywood producer Roger Koeman discovered Cameron and recruited him to join his own New World Pictures company.
Roger Corman is a well-known Independent Film Director and Producer in the United States
At the time, the company was Hollywood's only independent film studio. Martin Scorsese, Coppola, Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson, etc. have all worked at the company.
"I didn't go to college, but I went through two of the best universities in the world: one school curriculum was the movies I watched, and I learned enough from countless classics; and the other was the experience of working at Koeman Studios, and anyone who went through that kind of intense work would become a talent."
Piranha 2: Breeding
In 1980, Cameron was the art director for Battle Beyond the stars, focusing on special effects production; in 1981, he continued to work on special effects for Galaxy of Terror, where he worked as a director for two groups. These vivid work experiences have helped Cameron refine his understanding of filmmaking. Soon, Cameron was given his first solo shot, Piranha 2: Breeding. But the work became his nightmare, a past he did not want to mention.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > the light conceived in the nightmare</h1>
In 1981, Piranha 2: Reproduction was released.
The film was shot in the Bahamas, with a full italian crew, and you can imagine how difficult the shooting process was for Cameron. After 12 days of filming, Cameron was fired.
If you don't want to be a director, you can't count. Cameron wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, so he flew to Rome to communicate with the producers, hoping to participate in post-production.
The producers gave Cameron, a director in his 20s, enough snubbing and scorn to prevent him from participating in the final editing. In a fit of rage, Cameron pried open the studio's office with his credit card and edited it himself, and sure enough, he was caught squarely and threatened to sue.
Struggling to get out of jail, Cameron is determined to make his own film, but the reality is harsh. He was stranded in Rome, not only lacking clothes, but also suffering from the flu, burning dizzy, and then having that terrible and great nightmare—a metal skeleton walking slowly from the floor with N knives stuck in his body.
I woke up in a cold sweat and was quite amused.
So, based on this terrible dream, Cameron returned to the United States and completed the script of "Terminator".
In the summer of 1982, the Terminator screenplay
He began to run for the script, looking around for investment. The production companies are optimistic about the story, but do not want Cameron to direct.
What to do?
So he negotiated with New World Producer Gayle Anne Hurd and sold the script for $1, on the condition that the film had to be directed by him.
In 1984, Terminator became.
The Terminator filming scene, Cameron and Linda Hamilton
The production cost of 6.5 million was exchanged for a good economic benefit.
In this film, Cameron shows his imagination, and when the end comes, he vividly portrays crisis and fear.
Cameron then began to take off, and between 1986 and 1989 he completed two self-written and self-directed works, Alien 2 and The Abyss.
Alien 2, The Abyss
In the former, Cameron did not follow Scott's old path, he moved the human and alien from the spaceship to the base, still closed, but with a more open space, and interpreted this original horror, claustrophobic story in the style of an action movie.
And "The Abyss" became Cameron's spiritual enlightenment.
Cameron has always had a soft spot for water. "When I was a kid, I loved to spend all my time collecting on the water in the pond... I have made many perfect dives, I love to drift on the surface of the sea, and I love living in the sea. Water has obviously become an integral part of my work. Despite the poor box office of The Abyss, the concept of underwater filming and liquid production led to the classic T-1000 of the future. Cameron concluded: "The film 'The Abyss' nearly cost the company money, but audiences around the world were blown away by this new technology. According to Arthur Clarke's Law – there's no difference between any difficult technique and magic, and many people feel like they've seen something 'magical'. That excites me. ”
To keep that excitement going, Cameron embarked on a new challenge.
The filming location of Terminator 2
The real T-1000 on the set of Terminator 2: Cameron
In 1990, filming began on Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
The work was over budgeted at the time of production, eventually becoming the first film to cost more than $100 million. High cost has high return. When Terminator 2 was released in 1991, it shocked four people, and in addition to earning $200 million at the box office, it also won four Oscars for best visual effects, best sound, best makeup and best sound editing.
People have finally witnessed the comprehensive innovation of CG technology to movies.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > I am the king of the world</h1>
With enough capital precipitation, Cameron can finally handle bigger projects with ease.
One day in March 1995, Cameron threw the book Titanic: A Picture of History on the desk of Twentieth Century Fox President Peter Chenin: "The story of Romeo and Juliet is on this ship!" "An epic blockbuster can start shooting, not by touching love, but by temper.
The filming location of Titanic. Cameron, Leonardo, Winslet
In 1998, for many Chinese, except for the World Cup in France, it was everyone's "Titanic" memory, as well as the haunting and long-lasting "my heart is eternal".
The far-reaching effect spanned 14 years and continued into 2012. Middle-aged uncles and aunts, like the new generation of young couples, stepped into the theater again to relive Jack and Ruth.
More than 200 million production costs, $2.1 billion at the global box office, 11 Oscars, and flooded peripherals.
The famous scene of titanic
Cameron has become the master of genre films, containing many different elements that have completely stimulated the different emotions of a wide audience. "Different audiences can see it as a celebration of selflessness and self-sacrifice, a subversive discourse about class relations, a nostalgic display of the prosperity of the past, a condemnation of capitalist greed, a brilliant rehearsal of art-grade stunt effects, a proof of love transcending and triumphing over death, an action-adventure of feminism, or an extension of Leonardo's gaze."
Titanic was so successful that there were reports that Cameron received an after-tax return of $100 million. This feeling is so wonderful that it directly makes Cameron "disappear completely" from the film industry. In fact, he got the script for Avatar in 1994, but technically it didn't meet expectations and had to be shelved.
In the days away from the film industry, Cameron began the "Age of Discovery" and filmed three deep-sea documentaries," "Return to the Bismarck Battleship," "Ghosts of the Abyss," and "Aliens of the Abyss."
Return to Bismarck's Battleship, Ghost of the Abyss, Alien of the Abyss
The "King of the World" is different, and none of the things that are made up while playing are wasted. All the experiences and techniques obtained from the deep-sea experience were applied to the later masterpiece "Avatar".
In 2005, Cameron told Jon Landau (one of the producers of Avatar), "We're close to this dream," announcing the official launch of the Avatar project.
The filming scene of "Avatar"
To this day, we still remember the days when we lined up all night to enter Pandora 10 years ago. The discomfort, vertigo and beauty of 3D make people find an unprecedented visual pleasure that is beyond the reach of the eyes.
Finally, the $2.79 billion box office broke the 13-year box office record held by Titanic and cemented Cameron's title of "King of the World".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > is old-fashioned, but you eat this one</h1>
"My goal is to rekindle the magical moments in audiences' hearts that revere them, like when our generation first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, like the generation that followed me when they saw Star Wars."
Cameron's promise did.
Because the audience and the box office like him.
So, is Cameron's movie good?
Not against your heart, not bad.
1. Multi-element of the type piece.
It is no exaggeration to say that Cameron's multiplication of genre films is first-rate, and he is particularly good at making a fuss in science fiction and action. Every time creating "exotic" (alien, space) stimulates the audience's curiosity and voyeurism. In this context, Cameron put inconspicuous but well-valued characters, portraying their growth process and forming the style characteristics of "Yu Jing Yongren". Even such a rare realistic work as "True Lies" gives the characters and stories a "strange feeling", completing the fusion of elements and creating "card labels".
A wonderful exotic planet, it may also be just Zhangjiajie
2. Through contradictions and conflicts, express human emotions and tap life force.
In "Terminator", Sarah Connor is timid and cowardly, dragging her feet, but the real victory benefits from her; in "True Lies", Harry is not a traditional 007 agent, more pyrotechnic, able to carry out tasks, but the family business is a mess, his wife is lonely, his daughter is estranged; Jack of "Avatar" is missing legs, hoping to get back on the ground and get rid of the fate of this fucking egg. When humans gave him a pair of powerful legs, he wanted to defend human interests and was infected by the values of the Na'vi. With the help of this natural and beautiful value, Cameron has given humanity the strength to fight evil and warn humanity to avoid depravity and meanness. In order to enhance the sense of power, often Cameron will complete the protagonist's self-redemption and sublime shaping, complete the empathy of the character and the audience, and burst out the power to shake people's hearts.
In True Lies, Cameron, Schwarzenegger, and Jamie Lee Curtis
It can be said that Cameron has the creative mentality of "big coincidence", starting from the most simple values and emotions of human beings, standing in the global vision, and completing his film dreams and artistic pursuits.
3) Cameron is a tech maniac. Madmen will innovate this industry through their own ways and channels, giving everyone a more advanced movie-watching experience.
In "The Abyss", Cameron led the team to synthesize the water column tentacles under digital technology with more than 20 shots;
In Terminator 2, he created the first CG character, T1000, to buy motion capture equipment at great expense, and to form a digital group to recreate Robert Patrick's face and body.
In "Titanic", Cameron combined traditional shooting methods and digital technology, first making models in a 1:20 scale, and then letting the actors walk around in the green screen, the team improved the presentation through the motion capture system, and the texture mapping method put on the actors' costumes in 1912, so that we couldn't tell which ones were real people and which were CG.
Avatar uses four Fusion3D systems, covering three lenses: live action, pure CG, and real shot + CG. Two NC800s were specially arranged on the scene of the real shooting, using CODEX to output stereoscopic video signals, and screening all the shots taken every day in 3D, even Cameron said: "A 20-minute continuous special effects shot in the film has exhausted his 14 years of hard work." ”
Nea's people with no special effects
It is precisely because of the addition of these technologies that we can marvel at the rapid development of the film industry and bring more possibilities to Cameron's "technical narrative".
Is Cameron's movie clichéd?
Old.
From the perspective of artistry, thought, storytelling and aesthetics, Cameron's works have their own characteristics, but they are by no means his strengths.
Cameron represents a mainstream trend in Hollywood, with simple plots and American values. He only succeeded in awakening the American collective worship of popular cinema— the technology packaging culture, the cultural export to the world. But we also can't simply say that this is wrong. At least in terms of thematic expression, Cameron, like the Avengers, is still "persuading people to be good".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" > tyrants on set and "five-star love saints"</h1>
The temper of many big directors does not seem to be very good.
The same goes for Cameron.
Leonardo once complained: "He is simply a devil, for a shot that may not pass the censorship, we have to soak in the sea all day." 」 ”
Ed Harris couldn't stand the pressure of Cameron during the filming of "The Abyss", and he couldn't help but cry on the way home, but he had to return to the set the next morning.
Sigourney Weaver said of Cameron's "desperate" as follows: "When filming, he did want to risk our lives and limbs, but he didn't mind taking risks with his own. Even on the set of Terminator 2 that year, the crew wore T-shirts with the words: "You can't scare me, I work for James Cameron." ”
People are not perfect, and the talent and boldness of the film industry have consumed Cameron's patience, fueled the stinky temper, and brought him a complicated married life.
Friends who know a little know that Cameron is a "five-star love saint".
While working as a truck driver in his early years, young Cameron met his first wife, a waiter at a truck-themed bar, Sharon Williams. The marriage lasted 6 years, and due to Cameron's lack of money, he only gave his wife a $1200 breakup fee when he divorced.
Cameron with his second wife, Gayle Anne Hurd
His second wife was the famous Gail Anne Hurd, the producer of Terminator.
The two married in 1985, a producer, a director; one is responsible for raising money, managing money, and the other is responsible for spending money, not to mention Cameron's special love of spending money when making movies. The two were already conflicted when they collaborated on "Alien 2" and "The Abyss", and finally did not survive, and in 1989, they chose to end the marriage. Interestingly, although the two divorced, they still collaborated on the popular Terminator 2.
Cameron on the set of Bigelow's "Apocalypse Tide"
Within a few months of the divorce, Cameron took aim at Catherine Bigelow.
Yes, it was the woman who later "leveled" Cameron with "Bomb Disposal Unit" at the 82nd Oscars. At that time, Catherine was still young, 180 tall with white skin, beautiful long legs, masculine personality, wind and fire. The two live treasures got together in 1989, and because both sides were too hot, they failed in 2 years. Sure enough, peers are wrongdoers.
In 1998, Linda Hamilton and Cameron
The reason why Cameron and Bigelow's marriage came to an end quickly, in addition to being exceptional, is also an important reason for Cameron and Linda Hamilton's scandal. Hamilton is Sarah Connor in the Terminator series, and the film brings Cameron and Hamilton closer together. In 1991, shortly after his divorce, Hamilton moved into Cameron's home in Malibu Beach. In 1993, Hamilton bore Cameron a daughter, Josephine. In July 1997, after a long marriage run, the two finally got married. As a result, in 1999, the marriage blew again. Hamilton received $50 million in breakup fees from Cameron and left a marriage testimonial: "On the first night of marriage, I realized that this marriage was a mistake. He is a controlling director. We are all his props and have no say. "She said she had to accompany him on expeditions in the desert, fly planes, film in difficult places... He's not interested in a normal life,' he once said to me, 'Anyone can be a husband, a father.'" But there are only five people in the world who can do what I do, so I'm going to pursue this. ’”
Cameron and Susie Amis
Leaving Hamilton, Cameron quickly pursued Susie Emis, whom he had met while filming Titanic. She plays Ruth's granddaughter in the film.
In June 2000, the two married. Susie is low-key, gentle and lovely, and after marriage, she quit the film industry and gave birth to three children for Cameron, Claire, Quinn and Elizabeth. I don't know if Cameron has changed his temperament, or Susie's fingers are soft and pinched properly, in short, in the past 20 years, Cameron is very quiet, and finally no longer emotionally struggling.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="06" > the man who influences future movies</h1>
For a long time, the director's identity was only a side job for Cameron, which was the key to his low production. Because time is spent on scientific expeditions. Only when the money is spent, Cameron will "have to go back to the director's post", presenting dreams with movies and making dreams a reality with science. He said that only in this way can life be complete.
In 2012, Cameron successfully dived the Mariana Trench at the bottom of the Earth Valley
Cameron is 66 years old this year, and should be the overlord of community fitness equipment in China, but in Hollywood, compared to 74-year-old Spielberg, 76-year-old Lucas, 85-year-old Woody Allen, 90-year-old "Mr. Eastwood", he is still very young. Moreover, fans have not waited for "Avatar 2" for a year or two. For Cameron, a 10-year-old "pit king," it's time to return to the film industry and start raising money for the next phase of his venture.
Only this time, I don't know what kind of visual spectacle he will bring with 10 years of research results, and what kind of mysterious technical power he will bring back to the film industry.
On September 26, 2020, cameron's live-action shooting of "Avatar 2" has been completed and will soon enter post-production
10 years ago, at the 82nd Oscars, Cameron confessed: "Avatar tells us that everything in the world is connected. If you go to another planet to see the miracle requires a flight of 4.5 light-years, then what a wonderful thing movie is. ”
Yes, the movie is beautiful.
If you continue to make movies, it will be better.