James Cameron has confirmed that he is planning a Fantastic Voyage remake very soon

James Cameron was given a hero's welcome by Gaelic cinematographers at a Paris masterclass on Thursday, shaking up the filmmaker's often unsavory public demeanor.

„That's the feat,” he said between laughs and in a show of unusual giddiness. “That's the longest standing ovation I've ever had in my life. Thanks. This is the high point of my career!”

The event has begun A new exhibition at the Cinematheque of Paris in France This establishes Cameron as a graphic artist who draws inspiration from his own subconscious. Running until January 2025, “The Art of James Cameron” presents a one-of-a-kind career retrospective featuring more than 300 paintings, etchings and production designs from Cameron's personal collection, signed by the filmmaker himself.

„I'm not involved in layout or design or any of that,” Cameron told the audience, as the applause finally faded. “So when I [first] I went, 'Wow, this is my whole journey. I just realized it for the first time.

Dreams and nightmares

„Proxima” director Alice Winokor led the talk, while Sigourney Weaver was at the exhibit opening with her longtime collaborator. However, the star actress was the main topic of conversation – creating a warm bond between the two filmmakers.

After Winokor said she wrote many of her scripts sitting beneath a framed photo of Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Cameron revealed she did the same, writing „Aliens” for an actress she had yet to meet.

Although the sequel's visual universe was built on HR Giger's designs, the incoming director made sure to leave his own mark on the material by introducing the Alien Queen. „I think Giger was a little disappointed that we didn't hire him,” Cameron said, listing the various biomechanoid features that made the new villain such a cool addition. „But I had so many ideas about what I could do in the same area.”

The director had a particularly vivid dream for the „Aliens” scene where Ripley realizes he's in the Egg Chamber with the Angry Queen, or as Cameron puts it, „the perfect wrong place.”

„[I remembered a dream] There I went into a dark room, every square inch of the walls and ceiling was covered with wasps, and I knew that if I moved or tried to escape, they would kill me,” he recalled. “Every horror film has to go to the deepest and worst place in the subconscious [because] That's the thing. That's what you should pay your money for.”

'Avatar' and beyond

Given the reflective and retrospective nature of the event, Cameron offered little new information about his upcoming three „Avatar” sequels. However, he assured the audience that part 3 is in the works for a late 2025 release, scripts for subsequent volleys are finished, designs are almost locked and 3D modeling is about to begin.

As for other pursuits, the filmmaker brought back his plans to produce a remake of the 1966 Human Body „Fantastic Voyage” tour that Cameron and his partner John Landa played for more than a decade.

„We've been building it for years and plan to move forward with it very soon,” Cameron said. „Rachel Welch isn't available, but we think we can make a good movie.”

Hope and Fear

Without giving further details, Cameron perhaps provides a thematic hint when he describes his appreciation of science fiction as a means of both hope and fear.

„Science fiction allows us to imagine a future that emerges from our present,” he said. „When 'Star Wars' came along, science fiction suddenly became very exciting. [all about] Fun and adventure. But history has always been about warning, misusing technology and misusing science.

„Who shall decide what is good for mankind?” he asked. “Machine intelligence can only mirror us. It will be with all our flaws and our evil intentions. Yes, that may sound good, but that's what nuclear scientists of the 1930s believed [they would unlock] An infinite source of energy to eradicate starvation… instead we got Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War. This is what worries me.”

A taste for risk

Reflecting on a career that began with schlock before making some of the highest-grossing — and most expensive — movies of all time, Cameron found a clear path in his appetite for risk.

„The more you settle, the more you lose what you've already got,” he said. „But I also think the biggest risk you can make is not trying something new and different. As the budget gets bigger, there's a tendency to start going to the lowest common denominator — and you can't do that.

„It may not seem like it anymore, but 'Titanic' was very dangerous at the time,” he continued. „It's a three-hour drama with a bunch of women in corsets and hats, and everyone dies, including the main characters. The studio didn't want that. They didn't believe in the film. They thought we were going to lose our asses completely!