This past weekend James Cameron took part in a Reddit AMA in which he touched on everything from his upcoming AVATAR sequels to his passion for diving, but some of the most interesting bits were his thoughts on the ALIEN sequels, PROMETHEUS, the TERMINATOR films, and his guilty pleasure film, Paul W.S. Anderson's RESIDENT EVIL. It's an interesting read and we've cherry-picked some of the highlights to share with you below.
On why he didn't do ALIEN 3 and how ALIEN 5 almost happened with Ridley Scott, Cameron had this to say:
We never talked about Alien 3. I don't remember the timing exactly, but I might have been making the Abyss at that time, also for Fox. What came up was the idea of doing Alien 5, and at one point I pitched that I would write it and produce it, and Ridley would direct it, and we had lunch talking about this, and we were in violent agreement, then nothing happened. What happened was Fox went ahead with Aliens Vs Predator, and I said "I really don't recommend that, you'll ruin the franchise, it's like Universal doing Dracula versus the Werewolf," and then I lost interest in doing an Alien film. But Prometheus is seen as the A-level alien, as opposed to rather, the derivative. I don't think I have anything to offer on the Prometheus sequels, that's Ridley's, I think I'll stick to the Avatar universe.
When asked what he thought about Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS, Cameron shared:
Interesting. I thought it was an interesting film. I thought it was thought provoking and beautifully, visually mounted, but at the end of the day it didn't add up logically. But I enjoyed it, and I'm glad it was made. I liked it better than the previous two Alien sequels.
I agree that PROMETHEUS was a more enjoyable experience than the previous two ALIEN pics and am still adamant that, while far from perfect, it certainly doesn't deserve a lot of the hate thrown at it.
Cameron also shared this thoughts on the TERMINATOR sequels TERMINATOR: RISE OF THE MACHINES and TERMINATOR: SALVATION, as well as touching on the upcoming TERMINATOR: GENESIS, stating…
Well, I have to be objective, or as objective as possible about that. I'm not big fans of the films, I think that the big ideas of the first movies – I didn't make the second film until I had an idea as big as the first film, and it had to do with the moral complexity of the story, and asking the audience by the end of the film to cry for a Terminator. I don't think that the 3rd or 4th film lived up to that potential. Sarah Connor Chronicles I never really watched much of it, so I never gave it a chance I get to get hooked, like you have to with a TV series. I'm hopeful that the new films, which are being made right now as a reboot, but still involving Arnold, will be good. From what I've seen from afar, it looks like they will be quite good.
Probably the most surprising revelation of the entire Reddit AMA was Cameron's confession of his favorite guilty pleasure movie.
Oh, probably Resident Evil, the first one. I just like that film! You don't have to defend a guilty pleasure.
You're damn right you don't have to defend a guilty pleasure! The idea of Cameron digging RESIDENT EVIL makes me smile and from now on if anyone gives me any shit about enjoying it I can respond with "Hey, James Cameron digs it, too!".
You can read more of Cameron's AMA on Reddit HERE. It's certainly an interesting read and Cameron always has something interesting to say.