If you were a film fan growing up in the ‘90s/early-‘00s, you’re very familiar with the work of Roland Emmerich. We’re talking movies like “Universal Soldier,” “Stargate,” “The Patriot,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and, of course, “Independence Day.” And at one point, he was signed on to do a remake of “Fantastic Voyage.” Unfortunately, he was to work with James Cameron on that project, and let’s just say, their personalities didn’t mesh well.
While speaking at Collider’s Directors on Directing panel (via EW) at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Roland Emmerich didn’t hold back when asked about what happened to his remake of “Fantastic Voyage.” If you want to know what happened, according to Emmerich, then you have to understand that James Cameron might not be the easiest to work with.
“James Cameron is very overbearing,” Emmerich said. “To say the very, very [least]… and so I at one point just gave up because it’s like, ‘Is it your movie or my movie?’ And that’s what happened.”
He added, “I kinda said like, ‘Gosh, why is he so overbearing?’ It was like, look, I’m gonna have to say, ‘I do my stuff,’ and when I cannot do my stuff, I’m totally not interested. It’s as simple as that. So when somebody else wants to say something to me and is more powerful [than I am], then I jump immediately off. I jumped out.”
This isn’t the first time Cameron has been called out for being difficult to work with. Not too long ago, filmmaker Tim Miller talked about the hardships of working with Cameron on “Terminator: Dark Fate.” So, it’s not crazy to think that Cameron might be a bit stubborn when working. And honestly, who can blame him? Whatever James Cameron is doing on set or behind the scenes seems to be working pretty well, as he just makes monster hit after monster hit.
However, it appears “Fantastic Voyage” was a casualty of Cameron’s method. As for Emmerich, you can see his work in the new Peacock series, “Those About to Die.”