The thing I love about James Cameron is that he has some legendary stories. From someone putting PCP into the food during the Titantic shoot to hiring a person to act like a Terminator to get the movie off the ground by intimidating producers, Cameron's legend always grows.
One of my favorite Cameron stories goes like this: he walked into an office in Fox and wrote "Alien$" on a chalkboard, and the studio green-lit the movie. But did that actually happen?
In an all-encompassing article from Empire Magazine, James Cameron confronted that legendary meeting. Did it happen? Well...
James Cameron BTS on 'Aliens'Credit: 20th Century Fox
James Cameron clarified the story, telling the magazine, "I had lunch with a bigshot producer when I was about to start Aliens who said, 'This is a no-win for you. If your movie’s good, Ridley will get the credit. If it’s bad, it’s all you. It’s a career-ender.' I said, 'Yeah, buuuuuut... I like it.' I was maybe a dumbass fanboy, but I could see it so clearly in my head that I just had to go make it."
"And yes, it’s true," Cameron admits. "I was in a meeting with the studio head and the executive producers, and I turned my script over and on the blank side of the last page, I wrote ALIEN. Then I drew an S on the end. Then I drew two vertical lines through the S and held it up to show them. Maybe it was just Pavlovian conditioning when they saw the $ sign connected closely to the word ‘Alien’. Or maybe it was the confidence I projected. But they said yes."
So much of that legend is true, and it's as badass as we expected.
I think the lesson here is to go with your gut and believe in yourself and your abilities. You have to be your own cheerleader, and you have to believe in yourself when no one else might.
What did you take away from this Cameron story?
Let us know in the comments.
Source: Empire Online
