News culture James Cameron fired off his first film: he can thank this helping hand of fate
The history of Hollywood is peppered with success stories that make the hearts of film fans beat faster, but also with darker anecdotes. Before James Cameron became one of the most influential and lucrative directors in the industry, he had already been fired from his first film without notice. It was THE helping hand of fate that paradoxically launched his career.
The “King” of Hollywood
James Cameron will be the most financially powerful director in the entire Hollywood film industry in 2024. The Canadian filmmaker managed to place three of his feature films in the TOP 4 of the world’s biggest box office hits. Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Titanic are in first, second and third place in the ranking with 2.92 billion, 2.32 billion and 2.26 billion US dollars, respectively. These dizzying sums make him an “untouchable” in Hollywood today, as he turns everything he touches into solid gold.
Long before the Avatar saga took up all of his time, James Cameron revolutionized science fiction with Terminator (1984), Aliens Returns (1986), Abyss 1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). He was also involved in the creation of True Lies – the remake of La Totale starring Arnold Schwarzenegger – before diving headfirst into a gigantic project…Titanic…that would change the 2nd art and, to a lesser extent, the world of entertainment forever will change. However, James Cameron’s career started in the worst possible way. In 1981 he was fired as director of his first film.
A saving dismissal
James Cameron’s climb of Mount Hollywood in 2024 will be a fitness journey. The creative mind behind one of cinema’s most sacred monsters succeeds in everything: the Terminator. However, he encountered difficulties with his first film. As a matter of fact, The director was simply fired after two weeks of filming Piranha II: The Flying Killers. According to the teams present on site, working conditions were particularly difficult due to a reduced budget ($145,786) and an omnipresent and all-powerful producer.
The firing of his predecessor Joe Dante over disagreements with producer Ovidio G. Assonitis was not a good sign. It’s a young and inexperienced James Cameron who appears confident on set, but then quickly becomes disillusioned. He faces budget overruns, production delays and even conflicts between actors. He was eventually fired by Ovidio G. Assonitis, who was dissatisfied with the work done and saw his film as a failure. This dismissal was a blessing for James Cameron, who has no ill will toward Piranha II: The Flying Killers or the producer. According to him, without this event, Terminator would never have seen the light of day. We can therefore thank Ovidio G. Assoniti.
