Look up vision in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Vision or visions may refer to:

• Hallucination, vivid conscious perception in the absence of a stimulus
• Visual perception, interpreting what is seen
• Vision (spirituality), inspirational experiences
• Visual system, the sensory mechanism of eyesight

Film [link]

• Michael Jackson's Vision
• Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (film), 2010 film by Margarethe von Trotta

Music [link]

• Visions, a 2007 album by Disasteradio
• Vision, a track on the 1971 Peter Hammill album Fool's Mate
• Visions, a track on the 1973 Stevie Wonder album Innervisions
• Vision (EP), the first EP by Swedish band No Fun at All
• Vision (Frank Duval album)
• Vision (Shankar album)
• Visions (Atreyu album)
• Visions, B-side to "One of These Nights" by The Eagles
• Visions (Clearlight album)
• Visions (Grant Green album)
• Visions (Grimes album)
• Visions (Haken album)
• Visions (Jakatta album)
• Visions (Libera album)
• Visions of Dennis Brown, 1978 reggae album by Dennis Brown, later reissued as Visions
• Visions of Johanna, a song by Bob Dylan from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde
• Visions (Paul Field album)
• Visions (Stratovarius album)
• Visions (Sun Ra album)

Pop culture [link]

• Vision (Marvel Comics), member of the superhero team, the Avengers
• Vision (Timely Comics) (Aarkus), 1940s comic book character
• Vision Festival, New York City festival of experimental music, art, film and dance
• Visions (convention), a Chicago area science fiction convention
• Visions (Magic: The Gathering) 1997 expansion to Magic: The Gathering collectible card game
• York Vision, one of two student newspapers at the University of York

Buildings [link]

• Vision Brisbane, proposed tower of 80 floors
• Vision Tower, 60-floor tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Corporate [link]

• BT Vision, digital terrestrial television service provided in the United Kingdom
• Goal or vision, a euphemism for planning in commerce and in sport
• Vision Airlines, US airline
• Vision Industries, U.S. sports car manufacturer
• Vision statement, a corporate long-term goal
• Vision Street Wear, U.S. footwear company
• VisionTV, Canadian cable television specialty channel

Organizations [link]

• Vision Australia, blindness charity
• Vision (Italian think tank), think tank focusing on democracy, open society and social reform
• Vision Montreal, a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec
• Vision Vancouver, one of three parties represented on the Vancouver City Council

Computer and technologies [link]

• AMD Vision, a marketing term from AMD
• Machine vision, a range of technologies for the use of cameras as computer inputs, as in process control
• Visi On, an early GUI system for the IBM PC from VisiCorp
• Vision (game engine), a multi-platform 3D game engine
• Vision Mobile Browser, an internet browser platform for mobile devices

Ships [link]

• USS Vision, the name of than one United States Navy ship
• MV Atlantic Vision, a ferry
• MS Vision of the Seas, cruise ship for Royal Caribbean International

Other [link]

• Eagle Vision, a full-size, front-wheel drive sedan, from Chrysler
• Sega Vision, a portable media player released in 2009
• Vision for Space Exploration, a space exploration program
• Vision, nightclub associated with Excalibur (nightclub) in Chicago
• Vision Racing, a racing team in the Indy Racing League
• Vision Zero, a project to achieve a safe road transport system
• Blue Bird Vision, a school bus manufactured by Blue Bird

See also[link]

• Visionary
• Least distance of distinct vision

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

St. Hildegard von Bingen, O.S.B.
Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary
Sibyl of the Rhine
Born	1098 Bermersheim vor der Höhe, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Died	17 September 1179(1179-09-17) (aged 81) Bingen am Rhein, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church (Order of St. Benedict), Anglican Communion, Lutheranism
Canonized	10 May 2012 (equivalent canonization), Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Major shrine	Eibingen Abbey Germany
Feast	17 September

Saint Hildegard of Bingen, O.S.B. (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis) (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.^[1] Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play.^[2]

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of St. Hildegard to the universal Church,^[3] in a process known as "equivalent canonization".^[4] On 27 May 2012, the Pope announced that, on 7 October 2012, he will declare St. Hildegard to be the 35th Doctor of the Church.^[5]

Biography[link]

Hildegard's date of birth is uncertain. It has been concluded that she may have been born in the year 1098.^[6] Hildegard was raised in a family of free nobles. She was her parents' tenth child, sickly from birth.^[7] In her Vita, Hildegard explains that from a very young age she had experienced visions.^[8]

Monastic life[link]

Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert and Mechthilde, offered her as a oblate to the church. The date of Hildegard's enclosure in the church is contentious. Her Vita tells us she was enclosed with an older nun, Jutta, at the age of eight. However, Jutta's enclosure date is known to be in 1112, at which time Hildegard would have been fourteen.^[9] Some scholars speculate that Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta, the daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, at the age of eight, before the two women were enclosed together six years later.^[10] There is no written record of the twenty-four years of Hildegard's life that she was in the convent together with Jutta. It is possible that Hildegard could have been a chantress and a worker in the herbarium and infirmarium.^[11]

In any case, Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed at Disibodenberg in the Palatinate Forest in what is now Germany. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the enclosure. Hildegard also tells us that Jutta taught her to read and write, but that she was unlearned and therefore incapable of teaching Hildegard Biblical interpretation.^[12] Hildegard and Jutta most likely prayed, meditated, read scriptures such as the psalter, and did some sort of handwork during the hours of the Divine Office. This also might have been a time when Hildegard learned how to play the ten-stringed psaltery. Volmar, a frequent visitor, may have taught Hildegard simple psalm notation. The time she studied music could also have been the beginning of the compositions she would later create.^[13]

Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as "magistra" of the community by her fellow nuns.^[14] Abbot Kuno of Disibodenberg, also asked Hildegard to be Prioress, which would be under his authority. Hildegard, however, wanted more independence for herself and her nuns and asked Abbot Kuno to allow them to move to Rupertsberg.^[15] This was to be a move towards poverty, from a stone complex that was well established to a temporary dwelling place. (New York: Routledge, 2001), 6. When the abbot declined Hildegard's proposition, Hildegard went over his head and received the approval of Archbishop Henry I of Mainz. Abbot Kuno did not relent, however, until Hildegard was stricken by an illness that kept her paralyzed and unable to move from her bed, an event that she attributed to God's unhappiness at her not following his orders to move her nuns to Rupertsberg. It was only when the Abbot himself could not move Hildegard that he decided to grant the nuns their own monastery.^[16] Hildegard and about twenty nuns thus moved to the St. Rupertsberg monastery in 1150, where Volmar served as provost, as well as Hildegard's confessor and scribe. In 1165 Hildegard founded a second monastery for her nuns at Eibingen.

Visions[link]

Hildegard says that she first saw "The Shade of the Living Light" at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions.^[17] She used the term 'visio' to this feature of her experience, and recognized that it was a gift that she could not explain to others. Hildegard explained that she saw all things in the light of God through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.^[18] Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, confiding only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, secretary.^[19] Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions, and in 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear."^[20] Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering and tribulations.^[21] In her first theological text, Scivias ("Know the Ways"), Hildegard describes her struggle within:

But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] and of that man whom I had secretly sought and found, as mentioned above, I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. [...] And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, 'Cry out therefore, and write thus!'^[22]

Hildegard's Vita was begun by Godfrey of Disibodenberg under Hildegard's supervision. It was between November 1147 and February 1148 at the synod in Trier that Pope Eugenus heard about Hildegard’s writings. It was from this that she received Papal approval to document her visions as revelations from the Holy Spirit giving her instant credence. (New York; Routledge, 2001) 5.

Before Hildegard’s death, a problem arose with the clergy of Mainz. A man buried in Rupertsburg had died after excommunication from the Church. Therefore, the clergy wanted to remove his body from the sacred ground. Hildegard did not accept this idea, replying that it was a sin and that the man had been reconciled to the church at the time of his death.^[23]

On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies and cross over the room where she was dying.^[24]

Works[link]

Hildegard's musical, literary, and scientific writings are housed primarily in two manuscripts: the Dendermonde manuscript and the Riesenkodex. The Dendermonde manuscript was copied under Hildegard's supervision at Rupertsberg, while the Riesencodex was copied in the century after Hildegard's death.

Mutterschaft aus dem Geiste und dem Wasser (Motherhood from the Spirit and the Water), 1165

Music[link]

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard, particularly her music. In addition to the Ordo Virtutum, sixty-nine musical compositions, each with its own original poetic text, survive, and at least four other texts are known, though their musical notation has been lost.^[25] This is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers. Hildegard also wrote nearly 400 letters to correspondents ranging from Popes to Emperors to abbots and abbesses;^[26] two volumes of material on natural medicine and cures;^[27] an invented language called the Lingua ignota;^[28] various minor works, including a gospel commentary and two works of hagiography;^[29] and three great volumes of visionary theology: Scivias, Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits" or "Book of the Rewards of Life"), and Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works").^[30]

	"O frondens virga" From Ordo Virtutum
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

One of her better known works, Ordo Virtutum (Play of the Virtues), is a morality play. It is unsure when some of Hildegard’s compositions were composed, though the Ordo Virtutum is thought to have been composed as early as 1151.^[31] The morality play consists of monophonic melodies for the Anima (human soul) and 16 Virtues. There is also one speaking part for the Devil. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, while Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima and the Virtues.^[32]

In addition to the Ordo Virtutum Hildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum. The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard’s own text and range from antiphons, hymns, and sequences, to responsories.^[33] Her music is described as monophonic; that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line.^[34] Hildegard's compositional style is characterized by soaring melodies, often well outside of the normal range of chant at the time.^[35] Additionally, scholars such as Margot Fassler and Marianna Richert Pfau describe Hildegard's music as highly melismatic, often with recurrent melodic units, and also note her close attention to the relationship between music and text, which was a rare occurrence in monastic chant of the twelfth century.^[36] Hildegard of Bingen’s songs are left open for rhythmic interpretation because of the use of neumes without a staff.^[37] The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard of Bingen and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints.^[38]

The definition of viriditas or ‘greenness’ is an earthly expression of the heavenly in an integrity that overcomes dualisms. This ‘greenness’ or power of life appears frequently in Hildegard’s works.^[39]

Recent scholars have asserted that Hildegard made a close association between music and the female body in her musical compositions.^[40] The poetry and music of Hildegard’s Symphonia is concerned with the anatomy of female desire thus described as Sapphonic, or pertaining to Sappho, connecting her to a history of female rhetoricians.^[41]

Writings[link]

"Universal Man" illumination from Hildegard's Liber Divinorum Operum, 1165

Mysticism[link]

In addition to her music, Hildegard also wrote three books of visions, the first of which, her Scivias ("Know the Way"), was completed in 1151. Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits" or "Book of the Rewards of Life") and Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works", also known as De operatione Dei, "On God's Activity") followed. In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was about 75, Hildegard first describes each vision, then interprets them through Biblical exegesis.

The narrative of her visions was richly decorated under her direction, with transcription assistance provided by the monk Volmar and nun Richardis. The book was celebrated in the Middle Ages, in part because of the approval given to it by Pope Eugenius III, and was later printed in Paris in 1513.

Herbal medicine[link]

Hildegard also wrote Physica, a text on the natural sciences, as well as Causae et Curae. Hildegard of Bingen was well known for her healing powers involving practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones.^[42] In both texts Hildegard describes the natural world around her, including the cosmos, animals, plants, stones, and minerals.

She combined these elements with a theological notion ultimately derived from Genesis: all things put on earth are for the use of humans.^[43] She is particularly interested in the healing properties of plants, animals, and stones, though she also questions God's effect on man's health.^[27] One example of her healing powers was curing the blind with the use of Rhine water.^[44]

Alphabet[link]

Alphabet by Hildegard von Bingen, Litterae ignotae, which she used for her language Lingua Ignota

Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated and abridged words.^[8] Due to her inventions of words for her lyrics and a constructed script, many conlangers look upon her as a medieval precursor. Scholars believe that Hildegard used her Lingua Ignota to increase solidarity among her nuns.^[45]

Significance[link]

During her lifetime[link]

Maddocks claims that it is likely Hildegard learned simple Latin, and the tenets of the Christian faith, but was not instructed in the Seven Liberal Arts, which formed the basis of all education for the learned classes in the Middle Ages: the Trivium of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric plus the Quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.^[46] The correspondence she kept with the outside world, both spiritual and social, transgressed the cloister as a space of female confinement, and served to document Hildegard’s grand style and strict formatting of medieval letter writing.^[47]

Contributing to Christian European rhetorical traditions, Hildegard “authorized herself as a theologian” through alternative rhetorical arts.^[47] Hildegard was creative in her interpretation of theology. She believed that her monastery should not allow novices who were from a different class than nobility because it put them in an inferior position. She also stated that ‘woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman.'^[24]

Hildegard's preaching tours

Due to church limitation on public, discursive rhetoric, the medieval rhetorical arts included: preaching, letter writing, poetry, and the encyclopedic tradition.^[48] Hildegard’s participation in these arts speaks to her significance as a female rhetorician, transcending bans on women’s social participation and interpretation of Scripture. The acceptance of public preaching by a woman, even a well-connected abbess and acknowledged prophet does not fit the usual stereotype of this time. Her preaching was not limited to the monasteries; she even preached publicly in 1160 in Germany. (New York: Routledge, 2001, 9). She conducted four preaching tours throughout Germany, speaking to both clergy and laity in chapter houses and in public, mainly denouncing clerical corruption and calling for reform.^[49]

Many abbots and abbesses asked her for prayers and opinions on various matters.^[50] She traveled widely during her four preaching tours.^[51] She had several rather fanatic followers, including Guibert of Gembloux, who wrote frequently to Hildegard and eventually became her secretary after Volmar died in 1173. In addition, Hildegard influenced several monastic women of her time and the centuries that followed; in particular, she engaged in correspondence with another nearby visionary, Elisabeth of Schönau.^[52]

Hildegard communicated with popes such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and other notable figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work, at the behest of her abbot, Kuno, at the Synod of Trier in 1147 and 1148. Hildegard of Bingen’s correspondence with many people is an important element of her literary work because this is where we can see her speaking most directly to us.^[53]

Beatification and canonization[link]

Hildegard was one of the first persons for whom the Roman canonization process was officially applied, but the process took so long that four attempts at canonization were not completed, and she remained at the level of her beatification. Hildegard's name was nonetheless taken up in the Roman Martyrology at the end of the sixteenth century. Her feast day is 17 September. Numerous popes have referred to Hildegard as a saint, including Pope John Paul II^[54] and Pope Benedict XVI.^[55] On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of St. Hildegard to the universal Church^[56] in a process known as "equivalent canonization".^[57] Hildegard’s parish and pilgrimage church in Eibingen near Rüdesheim houses her relics.

Hildegard of Bingen also appears in the calendar of saints of various Anglican churches, such as that of the Church of England, in which she is commemorated on 17 September.

20th-century interest[link]

Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. She was the inspiration for Dr. Gottfried Hertzka's "Hildegard-Medicine", and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing center that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing.^[58] Hildegard's reincarnation has been debated since 1924 when Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner lectured that a nun of her description was the past life of Russian poet Vladimir Soloviev,^[59] whose Sophianic visions are often compared to Hildegard.^[60] Sophiologist Robert Powell writes that hermetic astrology proves the match,^[61] and artist mystic Carl Schroeder claims to be in the lineage of Hildegard^[62] with the support and validation of reincarnation researchers Walter Semkiw and Kevin Ryerson.^[63]

In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars.^{[citation needed]} Her reference to herself as a member of the "weaker sex" and her rather constant belittling of women, though at first seemingly problematic, must be considered within the context of the patriarchal church hierarchy. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis.^[64] Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice.^[65] Hildegard used her voice to condemn church practices she disagreed with, in particular simony.

In space, she is commemorated by the asteroid 898 Hildegard.

Bibliography[link]

See also[link]

Anglicanism portal

• Bibliography of Hildegard of Bingen
• Discography of Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard has been portrayed on film by Patricia Routledge in a dramatized BBC biographical documentary called "Hildegard Von Bingen In Portrait: Ordo Virtutum."

The film Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen, directed by Margarethe von Trotta, premiered in Europe in 2009 and in the United States in 2010. Hildegard is played by Barbara Sukowa.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hildegard von Bingen

• Hildegard Center for the Arts, A Faith Based Fine Arts Center in Lincoln Nebraska
• International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies
• A Hildegard FAQ Sheet
• Hildegard Von Bingen
•  "St. Hildegard". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• Hildegard of Bingen Documents, History, Sites to see today, etc.
• Works by or about Hildegard of Bingen in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Source
• Discography
• Biography and Prayers of Hildegard
• Another discography
• Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany with information about Hildegard von Bingen and the Eibinger Hildegardisshrine
• The Reconstruction of the monastery on the Rupertsberg
• Free scores by Hildegard von Bingen in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Hildegard of Bingen in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Hildegard of Bingen at the International Music Score Library Project
• Young, Abigail Ann. Translations from Rupert, Hildegard, and Guibert of Gembloux. 1999. 27 March 2006.
• McGuire, K. Christian. Symphonia Caritatis: The Cistercian Chants of Hildegard von Bingen. 2007. 14 July 2007.
• * From Katya Sanna's blog
• Women's Biography: Hildegard of Bingen, contains several letters sent and received by Hildegard.
• "Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Place Setting: Hildegarde of Bingen", describes the Hildegarde Place Setting in Judy Chicago's work called "The Dinner Party".

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James Cameron
James Cameron in February 2010
Born	James Francis Cameron (1954-08-16) August 16, 1954 (age 57) Kapuskasing, Ontario
Residence	Permanent Los Angeles, California, secondary Permanent New Zealand
Nationality	Canadian
Citizenship	Canada
Education	Brea Olinda High School
Alma mater	Fullerton College
Occupation	Film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, environmentalist, explorer
Years active	1978–present
Notable work(s)	The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Avatar, Titanic, Aliens, True Lies, The Abyss
Influenced by	Stanley Kubrick, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ridley Scott, George Lucas, Roger Corman, Steven Spielberg
Influenced	Joss Whedon, Kathryn Bigelow, Rupert Wyatt, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez
Home town	Chippawa, Ontario
Net worth	$650 million (est.)[1]

James Francis Cameron^[2] (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian film director, film producer, deep-sea explorer, screenwriter, visual artist and editor.^[3][4][5][6] His writing and directing work includes Piranha II: The Spawning (1981), The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), Dark Angel (2000–02), and Avatar (2009). In the time between making Titanic and Avatar, Cameron spent several years creating many documentary films (specifically underwater documentaries) and co-developed the digital 3D Fusion Camera System. Described by a biographer as part-scientist and part-artist,^[7] Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies.^[5][6][8] On March 26, 2012, Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.^[9][10][11]

He has been nominated for six Academy Awards overall and won three for Titanic. In total, Cameron's directorial efforts have grossed approximately US$2 billion in North America and US$6 billion worldwide.^[12] Without adjusting for inflation, Cameron's Titanic and Avatar are the two highest-grossing films of all time at $2.16 billion and $2.78 billion respectively.^[13] In March 2011 he was named Hollywood's top earner by Vanity Fair, with estimated 2010 earnings of $257 million.^[14]

Background[link]

Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, 1954, the son of Shirley (Lowe), an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron.^[15][16] His paternal great-great-great-grandfather emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland in 1825;^[15] thus, he descends from Clan Cameron.

Cameron grew up in Chippawa, Ontario with his brother Davie Cameron and attended Stamford Collegiate School in Niagara Falls; his family moved to Brea, California in 1971 when he was 17.^[17] Cameron enrolled at Fullerton College, a 2-year community college, in 1973 to study physics. He switched to English, then dropped out before the start of the fall 1974 semester.^[18]

After dropping out of Sonora High School, he went to further his secondary education at Brea Olinda High School. After graduating, he worked several jobs such as truck driving and wrote when he had time.^[19] During this period he taught himself about special effects: "I'd go down to the USC library and pull any thesis that graduate students had written about optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology. That way I could sit down and read it, and if they'd let me photocopy it, I would. If not, I'd make notes."^[20]

After seeing the original Star Wars film in 1977, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry.^[21] When Cameron read Syd Field's book Screenplay, it occurred to him that integrating science and art was possible, and he wrote a ten-minute science fiction script with two friends, entitled Xenogenesis. They raised money and rented camera, lenses, film stock, and studio, and shot it in 35mm. To understand how to operate the camera, they dismantled it and spent the first half-day of the shoot trying to figure out how to get it running.

Early career[link]

While continuing to educate himself in film-making techniques, Cameron started working as a miniature-model maker at Roger Corman Studios.^[19] Making rapidly produced, low-budget productions taught Cameron to work efficiently and effectively. He soon found employment as an art director in the sci-fi movie Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). He did special effects work design and direction on John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981), acted as production designer on Galaxy of Terror (1981), and consulted on the design of Android (1982).^[22]

Cameron was hired as the special effects director for the sequel of Piranha, entitled Piranha II: The Spawning in 1981. The original director, Miller Drake, left the project due to creative differences with Ovidio Assonitis. Cameron was hired by Assonitis to take over, giving him his first directorial job. (He had worked previously with producer Roger Corman.) The interior scenes were filmed in Italy while the underwater diving sequences were shot at Grand Cayman Island.^[23]

The movie was to be produced in Jamaica. On location, production slowed down due to numerous problems and adverse weather conditions. James Cameron was fired after failing to get a close up of Carole Davis in her opening scene. Ovidio ordered Cameron to do the close-up the next day before he started on that day’s shooting. Cameron spent the entire day sailing around the resort to reproduce the lighting but still failed to get the close-up. After he was fired, Ovidio invited Cameron to stay on location and assist in the shooting. Once in Rome, Ovidio took over the editing when Cameron was stricken with food poisoning. Suffering from his illness, one night he had a nightmare about an invincible robot hitman sent from the future to kill him, giving him the idea for The Terminator, which would later catapult his filming career.^[23]

Major films[link]

[edit] The Terminator (1984)

Cameron in September 1986

After completing a screenplay for The Terminator, Cameron decided to sell it so that he could direct the movie. However, the production companies he contacted, while expressing interest in the project, were unwilling to let a largely inexperienced feature film director make the movie. Finally, Cameron found a company called Hemdale Pictures, which was willing to let him direct. Gale Anne Hurd, who had started her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, had previously worked with Cameron in Roger Corman's company and agreed to buy Cameron's screenplay for one dollar, on the condition that Cameron direct the film. Hurd was signed on as producer, and Cameron finally got his first break as director. Orion Pictures distributed the film.^[24]

Initially, for the role of the Terminator, Cameron wanted someone who wasn't exceptionally muscular, and who could "blend into" a normal crowd. Lance Henriksen, who had starred in Piranha II: The Spawning, was considered for the title role, but when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cameron first met over lunch to discuss Schwarzenegger playing the role of Kyle Reese, both came to the conclusion that the cyborg villain would be the more compelling role for the Austrian bodybuilder; Henriksen got the smaller part of LAPD detective Hal Vukovich and the role of Kyle Reese went to Michael Biehn. In addition, Linda Hamilton first appeared in this film in her iconic role of Sarah Connor, and later married Cameron.^[16]

The Terminator was a box office hit, breaking expectations by Orion Pictures executives that the film would be regarded as no more than a sci-fi film, and only last a week in theaters. It was a low-budget film which cost $6.5 million to make, cutting expenses in such ways as recording the audio track in mono. However, The Terminator eventually earned over $78 million worldwide.^[25]

[edit] Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

During the early 1980s, Cameron wrote three screenplays simultaneously: The Terminator, Aliens, and the first draft of Rambo: First Blood Part II. While Cameron continued with The Terminator and Aliens, Sylvester Stallone eventually took over the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II, creating a final draft which differed radically from Cameron's initial version.^[26]

[edit] Aliens (1986)

The producing team behind Aliens, James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd.

Cameron next began the sequel to Alien, the 1979 film by Ridley Scott. Cameron named the sequel Aliens, and again cast Sigourney Weaver in the iconic role of Ellen Ripley. According to Cameron, the crew on Aliens was hostile to him, regarding him as a poor substitute for Ridley Scott. Cameron sought to show them The Terminator but the majority of the crew refused to watch it and remained skeptical of his direction throughout production. Despite this and other off-screen problems (such as clashing with an uncooperative camera man and having to replace one of the lead actors – Michael Biehn of Terminator took James Remar's place as Corporal Hicks), Aliens became a box office success, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Weaver, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and won awards for Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects. In addition, the film and its lead actress made the cover of TIME magazine as a result of its numerous and extensive scenes of women in combat - these were almost without precedent and expressed the feminist theme of the film very strongly.

[edit] The Abyss (1989)

Cameron's next project stemmed from an idea that had come up during a high school biology class. The story of oil-rig workers who discover otherworldly underwater creatures became the basis of Cameron's screenplay for The Abyss, which cast Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn. Initially budgeted at $41 million U.S. (though the production ran considerably over budget), it was considered to be one of the most expensive films of its time, and required cutting-edge effects technology. Because much of the film takes place underwater and the technology wasn't advanced enough to digitally create an underwater environment, Cameron chose to shoot much of the movie "reel-for-real", at depths of up to 40 feet (12 m). For creation of the sets, the containment building of an unfinished nuclear power plant was converted, and two huge tanks were used.^[27] The main tank was filled with 7,500,000 US gallons (28,000,000 L) of water, and the second with 2,500,000 US gallons (9,500,000 L). The cast and crew resided there for much of the shooting.

[edit] Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

After the success of The Terminator, there had always been talks about a sequel to continue the story of Sarah Connor and her struggle against machines from the future. Although Cameron had come up with a core idea for the sequel, and Schwarzenegger expressed interest in continuing the story, there were still problems regarding who had the rights to the story, as well as the logistics of the special effects needed to make the sequel. Finally, in late-1980s, Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures secured the rights to the sequel, allowing Cameron to greenlight production of the film, now called Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

For the film, Linda Hamilton reprised her iconic role of Sarah Connor.^[28] In addition, Schwarzenegger also returned in his role as The Terminator, but this time as a protector. Unlike the T-800, who is made of a metal endoskeleton, the new villain of the sequel, called the T-1000, was a more advanced Terminator made of liquid metal, and with polymorphic abilities. The T-1000 would also be much less bulky than the T-800. For the role, Cameron cast Robert Patrick, a sharp contrast to Schwarzenegger. Cameron explained, "I wanted someone who was extremely fast and agile. If the T-800 is a human Panzer tank, then the T-1000 is a Porsche."

Cameron had originally wanted to incorporate this advanced-model Terminator into the first film, but the special effects at the time were not advanced enough. The ground-breaking effects used in The Abyss to digitally depict the water tentacle convinced Cameron that his liquid metal villain was now possible.

TriStar Pictures agreed to distribute the film, but under a locked release date only about one year after the start of shooting. The movie, co-written by Cameron and his longtime friend, William Wisher, Jr., had to go from screenplay to finished film in just that amount of time. Like Cameron's previous film, it was one of the most expensive films of its era, with a budget of about $100 million. The biggest challenge of the movie was the special effects used in creating the T-1000. Nevertheless, the film was finished on time, and released to theaters on July 3, 1991.

Terminator 2, or T2, as it was abbreviated, broke box-office records (including the opening weekend record for an R-rated film), earning over $200 million in the United States and Canada, and over $300 million in other territories, and became the highest-grossing film of that year. It won four Academy Awards: Best Makeup, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. It was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, but lost both Awards to JFK.

James Cameron announced a third Terminator film many times during the 1990s, but without coming out with any finished scripts. Kassar and Vajna purchased the rights to the Terminator franchise from a bankruptcy sale of Carolco's assets.^[29] Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was eventually made and released in July 2003 without Cameron's involvement. Jonathan Mostow directed the film and Schwarzenegger returned as the Terminator.

Cameron reunited with the main cast of Terminator 2 to film T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, an attraction at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan. It was released in 1996 and was a mini-sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The show is in two parts: a prequel segment in which a spokesperson talks about Cyberdyne, and a main feature, in which the performers interact with a 3-D movie.

[edit] True Lies (1994)

Before the release of T2, Schwarzenegger came to Cameron with the idea of remaking the French comedy La Totale! Titled True Lies, with filming beginning after T2's release, the story revolves around a secret-agent spy who leads a double life as a married man, whose wife believes he is a computer salesman. Schwarzenegger was cast as Harry Tasker, a spy charged with stopping a plan by a terrorist to use nuclear weapons against the United States. Jamie Lee Curtis and Eliza Dushku played the character's family, and Tom Arnold the sidekick.

Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment signed on with Twentieth Century Fox for production of True Lies. Made on a budget of $115 million and released in 1994, the film earned $146 million in North America, and $232 million abroad. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.

[edit] Titanic (1997)

Cameron expressed interest in the famous sinking of the ship RMS Titanic. He decided to script and film his next project based on this event. The picture revolved around a fictional romance story between two young lovers from different social classes who meet on board. Before production began, he took dives to the bottom of the Atlantic and shot actual footage of the ship underwater, which he inserted into the final film. Much of the film's dialogue was also written during these dives.

Subsequently, Cameron cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, Danny Nucci, David Warner, Suzy Amis, and Bill Paxton as the film's principal cast. Cameron's budget for the film reached about $200 million, making it the most expensive movie ever made at the time. Before its release, the film was widely ridiculed for its expense and protracted production schedule.

Released to theaters on December 19, 1997, Titanic grossed less in its first weekend ($28.6 million) than in its second, ($35.4 million), an increase of 23.8%. This is unheard of for a widely released film, which is a testament to the movie's appeal. This was especially noteworthy, considering that the film's running time of more than three hours limited the number of showings each theater could schedule. It held the No. 1 spot on the box-office charts for months, eventually grossing a total of over $600 million in the United States and Canada and more than $1.8 billion worldwide. Titanic became the highest-grossing film ever made, until Cameron's 2009 film Avatar. The CG visuals surrounding the sinking and destruction of the ship were considered spectacular.^[30] Despite criticism during production of the film, it received a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations (tied with All About Eve) at the 1998 Academy Awards. It won 11 Oscars (also record-tying with Ben-Hur and later The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), including Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song, Best Original Dramatic Score, and the Best Director award for Cameron.^[31] Upon receiving the award, Cameron exclaimed, "I'm king of the world!", in reference to one of the main characters' lines from the film. In March 2010, Cameron revealed that Titanic will be re-released in 3D in April 2012, and it was re-released on April 4th 2012, in order to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the actual ship.^[32]

[edit] Spider-Man and Dark Angel (2000–2002)

Cameron had initially next planned to do a film of the comic book character Spider-Man, a project developed by Menahem Golan of Cannon Films. Columbia hired David Koepp to adapt Cameron's treatment into a screenplay, and Koepp's first draft is taken often word-for-word from Cameron's story,^[33] though later drafts were heavily rewritten by Koepp himself, Scott Rosenberg, and Alvin Sargent. Columbia preferred to credit David Koepp solely, and none of the scripts before or after his were ever examined by the Writers Guild of America, East to determine proper credit attribution.^{[citation needed]} Cameron and other writers objected, but Columbia and the WGA prevailed. In its release in 2002, Spider-Man had its screenplay credited solely to Koepp.^[34]

Unable to make Spider-Man, Cameron moved to television and created Dark Angel, a superheroine-centered series influenced by cyberpunk, biopunk, contemporary superhero franchises, and third-wave feminism. Co-produced with Charles H. Eglee, Dark Angel starred Jessica Alba as Max Guevara, a genetically enhanced transgenic super-soldier created by a secretive organization. Cameron's work was said to "bring empowered female warriors back to television screens[...] by mixing the sober feminism of his The Terminator and Aliens characters with the sexed-up Girl Power of a Britney Spears concert."^[35] While a success in its first season, low ratings in the second led to its cancellation. Cameron himself directed the series finale, a two-hour episode wrapping up many of the series' loose ends.

Documentaries (2002–2012)[link]

In 1998 James and John David Cameron formed a digital media company, earthship.tv which became Earthship Productions.^[36] The company produced live multimedia documentaries from the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With Earthship Productions, John Cameron's recent projects have included undersea documentaries on the Bismarck (Expedition: Bismarck, 2002) and the Titanic (Ghosts of the Abyss (2003, in IMAX 3D) and Tony Robinson's Titanic Adventure (2005)).^[37] He was a producer on the 2002 film Solaris, and narrated The Exodus Decoded.

Cameron is a leading advocate for stereoscopic digital 3-D films. In a 2003 interview about his IMAX 2D documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, he mentioned that he is "going to do everything in 3D now".^[38] He has made similar statements in other interviews. Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep (also an IMAX documentary) were both shot in 3-D and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and Cameron did the same for his new project, Avatar for 20th Century Fox & Sony Pictures' Columbia Pictures. He intends to use the same technology for The Dive, Sanctum and an adaptation of the manga series Battle Angel Alita.

Cameron was the founder and CEO of Digital Domain, a visual effects production and technology company.

In addition, he plans to create a 3-D project about the first trip to Mars. ("I've been very interested in the Humans to Mars movement—the 'Mars Underground'—and I've done a tremendous amount of personal research for a novel, a miniseries, and a 3-D film.")^[39] He is on the science team for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory.^[40]

Cameron announced on February 26, 2007, that he, along with his director, Simcha Jacobovici, have documented the unearthing of the Talpiot Tomb, which is alleged to be the tomb of Jesus. Unearthed in 1981 by Israeli construction workers, the names on the tomb are claimed, in the documentary, to correlate with the names of Jesus and several individuals closely associated with him. Scientists pictured in the feature further claim to have DNA tests, archaeological evidence, and Biblical studies to back up their claim. The documentary, named The Lost Tomb of Jesus, was broadcast on the Discovery Channel on March 4, 2007.

As a National Geographic explorer-in-residence,^[41] Cameron re-investigated the sinking of the Titanic with eight experts in 2012. The investigation was featured in the TV documentary special Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron, which premiered on April 8 on the National Geographic Channel.^[42] In the conclusion of the analysis, the consensus revised the CGI animation of the sinking conceived in 1995.^[43][44]

[edit] Avatar (2009)

Cameron promoting Avatar during the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con

In June 2005, Cameron was announced to be working on a project tentatively titled "Project 880" (now known to be Avatar) in parallel with another project, Battle Angel (an adaptation of the manga series Battle Angel Alita).^[45] Both movies were to be shot in 3D. By December, Cameron stated that he wanted to film Battle Angel first, followed by Avatar. However in February 2006, he switched goals for the two film projects and decided to film Avatar first. He mentioned that if both films are successful, he would be interested in seeing a trilogy being made for both.^[46]

Avatar had an estimated budget of over $300 million and was released on December 18, 2009.^[47] This marked his first feature film since 1997's Titanic. It is composed almost entirely of computer-generated animation, using a more advanced version of the "performance capture" technique used by director Robert Zemeckis in The Polar Express.^[48] James Cameron wrote an 80 page scriptment for Avatar in 1995^[49] and announced in 1996 that he would make the film after completing Titanic. In December 2006, Cameron explained that the delay in producing the film since the 1990s had been to wait until the technology necessary to create his project was advanced enough.^[50] The film was originally scheduled to be released in May 2009 but was pushed back to December 2009 to allow more time for post production on the complex CGI and to give more time for theatres worldwide to install 3D projectors.^[51] Cameron originally intended Avatar to be 3D-only.^[52] The film went on to break the record for highest-grossing film ever, beating Cameron's previous film Titanic.^[53] Avatar also became the first movie to ever earn more than $2 billion worldwide. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director,^[54] and won three for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. Cameron lost the award for Best Director to his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, who also took Best Picture with her film The Hurt Locker.

Cameron was declared as the highest earner in Hollywood for 2010 earning $257 million for his blockbuster hit, in a survey listing the top 40 earners by Vanity Fair.^[55] Critics of Avatar have said that it continues to perpetrate the "White Messiah" myth.^[56] Film-maker Neil Diamond described it in an interview as "Dances with Pocahontas in Space."^[57]

[edit] Sanctum (2011)

Most recently, James Cameron served as the executive producer of Sanctum, a $30,000,000 (estimated budget) film detailing the expedition of a team of underwater cave divers who find themselves trapped in a cave, their exit blocked and no known way to reach the surface either in person or with radio contact.

Planned films[link]

In October 2010, Cameron signed an agreement with Fox to direct two sequels to Avatar, which are scheduled to be released in December 2014 and December 2015. Another project Cameron has announced is a personal commitment to shoot a film on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as told through the story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a man who survived both attacks. Cameron met with Yamaguchi just days before he died in 2010.^[58]

Awards[link]

Cameron receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2009

Cameron received the Bradbury Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1991—but, being primarily thought of as a genre filmmaker, he did not receive any major mainstream filmmaking awards prior to Titanic. With Titanic, Cameron received Academy Awards for Best Film Editing (shared with Conrad Buff and Richard A. Harris), Best Picture (shared with Jon Landau), and Best Director. He also won a Golden Globe Award for best director for the film.

In recognition of "a distinguished career as a Canadian filmmaker", Carleton University, Ottawa, awarded Cameron the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts on June 13, 1998. Cameron accepted the degree in person and gave the Convocation Address.^{[citation needed]}

He also received an honorary doctorate in October 1998 from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, for his accomplishments in the international film industry.

In 1998, Cameron attended convocation to receive an honorary doctorate of Laws from Ryerson University, Toronto. The university awards its highest honor to those who have made extraordinary contributions in Canada, or internationally.

In 1999, Cameron received the honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree^[59] from California State University, Fullerton, where he had been a student in the 1970s. He received the degree at the university's annual Commencement exercises that year, where he gave the keynote speech.

In recognition of his contributions to underwater filming and remote vehicle technology, the University of Southampton awarded Cameron the honorary degree of Doctor of the University. Cameron received his degree in person at the graduation ceremony in July 2004.^{[citation needed]}

On June 3, 2008, it was announced that he would be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.^[60] On December 18, 2009, the same day Avatar was released worldwide, Cameron received the 2,396th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[61]

On February 28, 2010 James Cameron was honored with a Visual Effects Society (VES) Lifetime Achievement Award.

With Avatar, Cameron has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Picture (shared with Jon Landau), Best Director and Best Film Editing (shared with John Refoua and Stephen E. Rivkin) and received the Golden Globe for Best Picture and Best Director.^[62] Cameron and Avatar lost the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture to Cameron's former wife^[63] Kathryn Bigelow for her film, The Hurt Locker.

On September 24, 2010 James Cameron was named Number 1 in The 2010 Guardian Film Power 100 list.^[64] In a list compiled by the British magazine New Statesman in September 2010, he was listed 30th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".^[65]

Awards[link]

Collaborations[link]

Cameron often casts certain actors more than once in his films. Cameron has consistently worked with Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Actor	Xenogenesis (1978)	Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)	The Terminator (1984)	Aliens (1986)	The Abyss (1989)	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)	True Lies (1994)	Titanic (1997)	Expedition: Bismarck (2002)	Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)	Avatar (2009)
William Wisher, Jr.1	Y				Y
Lance Henriksen		Y	Y	Y					Y
Bill Paxton			Y	Y			Y	Y		Y
Linda Hamilton			Y			Y
Michael Biehn			Y	Y	Y	Y2
Earl Boen			Y			Y
Arnold Schwarzenegger			Y			Y	Y
Jenette Goldstein				Y		Y		Y
Sigourney Weaver				Y							Y

¹ Although Wisher Jr. has written some of Cameron's works, he is listed in the above table as an actor.
² His reprised role of Reese was cut from the theatrical release, but restored in the DVD's Special Edition Version.

Recurring themes[link]

Cameron's films have recurring themes and subtexts. These include the conflicts between humanity and technology,^[66] the dangers of corporate greed,^[67] strong female characters,^[68] and a strong romance subplot.^[68] In almost all films, the main characters usually get into dramatic crisis situations with significant threats to their own life or even the threat of an impending apocalypse.

While The Abyss dealt with deep sea exploration (shot on a studio set),^[69] Cameron himself became an expert in the field of deep sea wreckage exploration, exploring the wreckage of Titanic and Bismarck.^[70] Cameron will return to this theme with The Dive, shooting from a minisub.

So important is technology in Cameron's films that he waited years for the technical tools of the craft to advance sufficiently to realize his vision for Avatar, for which he had special 3-D cameras developed.^[71]

Filmography[link]

Cameron has contributed to many projects as either a writer, director, producer, or as a combination of the three.

Cameron's first film was the 1978 science fiction short film Xenogenesis (film), which he directed, wrote and produced. Cameron's films have grossed a total of over $7 billion worldwide.

In addition to works of fiction, Cameron has directed and appeared in several documentaries including Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. He also contributed to a number of television series including Dark Angel and Entourage. He plans to shoot a small drama film after the Avatar trilogy, just to prove that 3D works even for domestic dramas.^[72] His next movie is called Myth.^[73]

Personal life[link]

Cameron has been married five times: to Sharon Williams (1978–1984), Gale Anne Hurd (1985–1989), director Kathryn Bigelow (1989–1991), and Linda Hamilton (1997–1999, daughter Josephine born in 1993). Cameron dated Hamilton since 1991, but the two didn't marry until 1997. Eight months after the marriage, however, they separated, and within days of Cameron's Oscar victory with Titanic, the couple announced their divorce. As part of the divorce settlement, Cameron was ordered to pay Hamilton $50 million.^[74] Hamilton later revealed that the reason for their divorce was not only Cameron's blind devotion to his work to the exclusion of almost everything else, but also that he had been having an affair with Suzy Amis, an actress he cast in Titanic.^[75]. He married Amis in 2000, and they have one son and two daughters. Cameron lives in Malibu, California with his wife.^{[citation needed]} On February 2 the Associated Press said Cameron would be moving to New Zealand to film Avatar.^[76] Hurd was the producer of Cameron's The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, and the executive producer of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Hamilton played the role of Sarah Connor in both Terminator films. Amis played the part of Lizzy Calvert, Rose's granddaughter, in Titanic. Both Cameron (Avatar) and Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) were nominated for the Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Director for films released in 2009. Cameron won the Golden Globe, whilst Bigelow won the Oscar and the BAFTA for Best Director, becoming the first woman to win either.^{[citation needed]}

Cameron is a member of the NASA Advisory Council and is working on the project to put cameras on an upcoming manned Mars mission.^[77] Cameron has also given speeches and raised money for the Mars Society, a non-profit organization lobbying for the colonization of Mars.^[78][79]

Cameron became an expert on deep-sea exploration in conjunction with his research and underwater filming surrounding The Abyss (1989) and Titanic (1997).^[80] In June 2010, Cameron met in Washington with the EPA to discuss possible solutions to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill. Later that week at the All Things Digital Conference, he attracted some notoriety when he stated, "Over the last few weeks I've watched...and [been] thinking, 'Those morons don't know what they're doing'." Reportedly, Cameron had offered BP help to plug the oil well, but they declined.^[81][80][82] The oil spill was eventually stopped using techniques similar to what Cameron recommended.^[83]

Although Cameron has lived his entire adult life in the United States, he remains a Canadian citizen. Cameron applied for American citizenship but withdrew his application after George W. Bush won the presidential election in 2004.^[84]

Cameron calls himself "Converted Agnostic", and says "I've sworn off agnosticism, which I now call cowardly atheism". As a child he described the Lord's Prayer as being a 'tribal chant'.^[85]

Deep sea dives[link]

On March 7, 2012, Cameron took the Deepsea Challenger submersible to the bottom of the New Britain Trench in a five-mile-deep solo dive.^[86] On March 26, 2012, Cameron reached the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.^[9] He spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor before returning to the surface.^[87] Cameron is the first person to accomplish the trip solo.^[9] He was preceded by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, who were the first men to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep aboard the Bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960.^[88] Cameron is making a three-dimensional film of his dive.^[89]

Reputation[link]

Cameron has been labeled by one collaborator, author Orson Scott Card, as selfish and cruel. When asked about working with Cameron on the novelization of The Abyss, Card said the experience was "hell on wheels. He was very nice to me, because I could afford to walk away. But he made everyone around him miserable, and his unkindness did nothing to improve the film in any way. Nor did it motivate people to work faster or better. And unless he changes his way of working with people, I hope he never directs anything of mine. In fact, now that this is in print, I can fairly guarantee that he will never direct anything of mine. Life is too short to collaborate with selfish, cruel people."^[90]

After working with Cameron on Titanic, Kate Winslet decided she would not work with Cameron again unless she earned "a lot of money." She said that Cameron was a nice man, but she found his temper difficult to deal with.^[91] In an editorial, the British newspaper The Independent said that Cameron "is a nightmare to work with. Studios have come to fear his habit of straying way over schedule and over budget. He is notorious on set for his uncompromising and dictatorial manner, as well as his flaming temper."^[91]

Sam Worthington, the latest lead actor to work with Cameron, stated on the Jay Leno Show that Cameron had very high expectations from everyone, and would often use a nail gun to nail the film crew's cell phones to a wall above an exit door in retaliation for unwanted ringing during production.^[92] Other actors, such as Bill Paxton and Sigourney Weaver, have praised Cameron's perfectionism. Weaver said of Cameron: "He really does want us to risk our lives and limbs for the shot, but he doesn't mind risking his own."^[93]

Additionally, composer James Horner refused to work with Cameron for ten years following their strained working relationship on 1986's Aliens, but they eventually settled their differences, and Horner went on to score both Titanic and Avatar for Cameron.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Cameron

• James Cameron at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about James Cameron in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• James Cameron collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• James Cameron collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• James Cameron at AllRovi
• Deepsea Challenger - Mariana Trench Dive (03/25/2012).