James Cameron Has Some Harsh Words For Actors Who Dare to Second-Guess His Offers
While many dream of working with James Cameron, some have turned down the opportunity. Looks like they shouldn't expect mercy from the iconic director.
The creator of such legendary films as Terminator, Titanic and Avatar, James Cameron is a perfectionist to the core.
In order for everything to be just the way he wants it, he is willing both sacrifice his own nerves and scrutinize actors, special effects specialists, cameramen – everyone.
Cameron is very tough and demanding in his views on how movies should be done. There are not many actors who are eager to work with him, because you have to be ready for hard, exhausting work with the legendary master.
By the way, Cameron's nickname in Hollywood is Iron Jim. It's not hard to guess why.
So it's no surprise that there's a long list of actors who have turned down a job with a great director, whether because of his meticulousness or simply because of a mismatched shooting schedule.
One of such actors was Matt Damon. Damon was offered the role of Navy Seal Jake Sully, which eventually went to Sam Worthington.
At first everything went perfectly: Damon was a big fan of James Cameron's films, and he predicted that Avatar would be a huge success.
Unfortunately, Damon had to grit his teeth and turn down a promising role due to his involvement in other projects.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Denzel Washington, Claire Danes, Mel Gibson and many others are also on the list of actors who at some point turned down the roles in Cameron's movies.
In an interview with MTV, James Cameron talked about how he feels about actors who were reluctant to work with him.
"They should've come whimpering back afterwards and said, 'I will never second guess you again as long as I live.' But it's too late. You got one chance, that's it. And you might want to think about this next time when you get called," the director said.
This comment is a perfect confirmation of Cameron's title as one of the toughest directors in Hollywood.
However, this is an inseparable part of his personality, which allows the director to keep a tight grip on the entire filming process in order to get what he wants in the end.
No wonder that three of the top five highest-grossing movies of all time are directed by him.