James Cameron is known for his immaculate filmmaking skills thanks to movies like Avatar, The Terminator, and one of the most tragic love stories of all time, Titanic. There’s no doubt to the fact that James Cameron knows what he is doing. Just look at the list of the highest-grossing films, you’ll find three of his in the top five!
But even a director of James Cameron’s caliber needs inspiration sometimes. His films, The Terminator and Avatar, were made after he got inspired by his dreams. However, reality inspires the director, as well. His 1994 film, True Lies, was inspired by a French movie. James Cameron and lead actor Arnold Schwarzenegger looked at True Lies as a subversion of the iconic James Bond franchise. While on one hand, James Cameron was a bit inspired by the 007 movies, on the other hand, he bashed them for being “Rotten.”
James Cameron Calls James Bond Movies “Rotten”
James Cameron has never been someone who holds back their opinions when it comes to the entertainment industry. Similarly, the main protagonist of the James Bond franchise was not going to be spared by the filmmaker, either. Although True Lies was inspired by the multi-billion dollar franchise, Cameron didn’t hesitate to call James Bond a rotten, womanizing, scumbag.
During an old conversation with Movieline in 1998, Cameron stated,
“The James Bond films are rotten at their core. The guy’s a womanizing drunk. He’s a complete scumbag; he really is. It’s male fantasy: I’m married and faithful, but I’d really like to be that guy and have a different woman every other night.”
Well, looks like Cameron isn’t one of James Bond’s many, many fans. Despite the filmmaker’s opinions, agent 007 has created a vast and loyal fan base for himself and fans are super curious to see who will get to take over the role next!
How a French Film & James Bond Inspired James Cameron
After watching a French film titled La Totale!, a comedy film revolving around the life of a secret agent, Arnold Schwarzenegger had a light bulb moment. He presented the idea to Cameron who realized how he could work that into his own film, relating it to the James Bond franchise. And thus, True Lies was made, pulling inspiration from James Bond and La Totale!. He told Yahoo,
“When I watched it, I got it. [Arnold] was dealing with [the idea] of,’ I’m a husband and I’m a father, but I am also this icon of masculinity. He related to it as, ‘What if James Bond had to go home to his wife and family?’”
Cameron then had the idea of turning True Lies into an action-comedy, instead of a plain old action film. He stated that he had never done a comedy film before and talked about how his quest for comedy made Schwarzenegger learn how to tango!
“Arnold knew I could handle the action. But I’d never done a comedy! So I came up with crazy stuff like him doing the tango with this exotic girl he meets at this mansion party. I sent [Arnold] the script, and in the margin I put an arrow next to the tango and wrote, ‘This is your most dangerous stunt.’ I think he took it to heart, because he did learn how to tango!”
And this is how, Cameron flipped the iconic James Bond movies around. True Lies grossed $378 billion at the box office and received a ton of positive reviews from fans and critics alike. Cameron even won the Saturn Award for Best Director.
True Lies is available to stream on Prime Video’s amc+ channel.
Source: Cheat Sheet
