Director James Cameron a(Photo by Jerritt Clark/WireImage)
James Cameron and his friends greatly anticipated seeing the original Star Wars film and, after finally seeing it, Cameron had a reaction that was both verbal and immediate, and ultimately life changing.
In the third episode of the 2022 Disney Plus docuseries Light & Magic — a docuseries that also revealed that George Lucas’ mother told him he wouldn’t amount to anything — James Cameron appears briefly in the beginning to quickly explain his response to his first time seeing the groundbreaking film.
Cameron isn’t the only director that talks about Star Wars in the episode. In fact, J.J. Abrams, director of two feature films in the most recent trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, also offered his reaction. Abrams, who was ten years old when he first saw the movie in theaters, explains, “It was like discovering another floor to your house. Like, ‘What?! I can go there?!’ It took everything to another level on such a massive scale.”
James Cameron, who was 22 years old when the film was released, first notes that he and his friends were only somewhat aware of what to expect. “I didn’t go into it cold. We knew it was some kind of space opera.”
He then says, “A bunch of my friends waited in line for 12 hours,” though it’s unclear if he is also referring to himself, or if he then cut in line with his friends closer to movie time.
Upon seeing the new age special effects that left everyone in awe, Cameron said, quite simply, “It was just stunning.”
However, what happened next literally changed his life. He made a radical decision sparked by seeing the film. Cameron, who was a writer in his spare time and was learning about special effects in film, was actually a truck driver in 1977, but that was about to change.
Cameron explains, “I went home and I said,’I’m quitting my job. You have to pay the bills for a while. I’m going to make a film.’”
Since Cameron married Sharon Williams in 1978, it’s presumed that it’s her whom he apparently told this to, though he doesn’t actually explain further.
Son thereafter, Cameron and a friend borrowed some money to make a short film titled Xenogenesis. The film wasn’t a success, but he would later re-work the concept into The Terminator. It also helped land him a role as a production assistant in the 1979 film Rock ‘n Roll High School, and also as a model maker at Roger Corman Studios before working on the sci-fi film Battle Beyond the Stars as an art director. He quickly grew in his profession before writing the script for The Terminator, which he also wanted to direct. He was able to convince the now-defunct Hemdale Film Corporation to make the movie, and rest is cinematic history.
Cameron clearly followed his calling, even at the potential cost of everything else in his life, and it all started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
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Director James Cameron a(Photo by Jerritt Clark/WireImage)
James Cameron and his friends greatly anticipated seeing the original Star Wars film and, after finally seeing it, Cameron had a reaction that was both verbal and immediate, and ultimately life changing.
In the third episode of the 2022 Disney Plus docuseries Light & Magic — a docuseries that also revealed that George Lucas’ mother told him he wouldn’t amount to anything — James Cameron appears briefly in the beginning to quickly explain his response to his first time seeing the groundbreaking film.
Cameron isn’t the only director that talks about Star Wars in the episode. In fact, J.J. Abrams, director of two feature films in the most recent trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, also offered his reaction. Abrams, who was ten years old when he first saw the movie in theaters, explains, “It was like discovering another floor to your house. Like, ‘What?! I can go there?!’ It took everything to another level on such a massive scale.”
James Cameron, who was 22 years old when the film was released, first notes that he and his friends were only somewhat aware of what to expect. “I didn’t go into it cold. We knew it was some kind of space opera.”
He then says, “A bunch of my friends waited in line for 12 hours,” though it’s unclear if he is also referring to himself, or if he then cut in line with his friends closer to movie time.
Upon seeing the new age special effects that left everyone in awe, Cameron said, quite simply, “It was just stunning.”
However, what happened next literally changed his life. He made a radical decision sparked by seeing the film. Cameron, who was a writer in his spare time and was learning about special effects in film, was actually a truck driver in 1977, but that was about to change.
Cameron explains, “I went home and I said,’I’m quitting my job. You have to pay the bills for a while. I’m going to make a film.’”
Since Cameron married Sharon Williams in 1978, it’s presumed that it’s her whom he apparently told this to, though he doesn’t actually explain further.
Son thereafter, Cameron and a friend borrowed some money to make a short film titled Xenogenesis. The film wasn’t a success, but he would later re-work the concept into The Terminator. It also helped land him a role as a production assistant in the 1979 film Rock ‘n Roll High School, and also as a model maker at Roger Corman Studios before working on the sci-fi film Battle Beyond the Stars as an art director. He quickly grew in his profession before writing the script for The Terminator, which he also wanted to direct. He was able to convince the now-defunct Hemdale Film Corporation to make the movie, and rest is cinematic history.
Cameron clearly followed his calling, even at the potential cost of everything else in his life, and it all started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.