Director James Cameron is one of the more creative people making large studio action films. While he’s considered a perfectionist on set, to the point of frustrating and firing crew members when they don’t execute his vision (Cameron has worked pretty much every job on a film set before becoming a director), it’s nice to hear that he was open to more psychedelic methods during the creative process of developing “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
During a retrospective interview for the film’s 30th anniversary with The Ringer, the filmmaker revealed that he was using ecstasy and listening to Sting’s pop song “Russians” when it struck him that it might be a good idea to include a young version of John Connor in the sequel, that role went to first-time actor Edward Furlong.
“I remember sitting there once, high on [ecstasy], writing notes for ‘Terminator,’ and I was struck by Sting’s song [“Russians”], that ‘I hope the Russians love their children too.’ And I thought, ‘You know what? The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself.’ That’s where the kid came from,” James Cameron revealed about his drug-fueled creative process.
This might also explain why the main setting of “Avatar,” Pandora, feels like a black-light poster in motion. People need to ask him what kind of drugs and music he was doing when he made that one, I’m going to guess Phish was involved.
While “Terminator 2” is hardly a folklore tale for children, Cameron saw the film as his chance to make his version of “Wizard of Oz” with Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s reprogrammed T-800 (also called Uncle Bob) being a Tin Man getting his heart, in this case, learning to be more human. From the visual standpoint, the sequel certainly punched people in the face with high-octane action sequences and some of the very first well-executed CGI scenes, two years before ILM and Steven Spielberg further changed the visual effects industry with “Jurassic Park.”
“There’s going to be big, thunderous action sequences, but the heart of the movie is that relationship. I have always loved ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ This movie is about the Tin Man getting his heart,” the filmmaker told The Ringer about how the “Wizard of Oz” influenced his sci-fi landmark film.
Speaking of visual effects, James Cameron revealed that “The Abyss” became a $60 million visual effects test for the digital liquid metal effects that would be later used for Robert Patrick‘s shape-shifting T-1000.
“Tom Sherak ran all distribution for Fox for years, and he said, ‘Who would have known that we made a $60 million movie that was just a test run for “Terminator 2?”’ They were still stinging a little bit from the fact that The Abyss broke even, just barely,” James Cameron recalled.
It’s hard to argue that “Terminator 2” and “Aliens” are examples of near-perfect sequels from that era, which amplified what the originals offered when most studios released lame cash-grabs that didn’t even attempt to one-up the first installment. I guess we’ll have to see if he can replicate that with his four “Avatar” sequels.