James Cameron has criticised fellow director Christopher Nolan over the latter’s Oscar winning film, Oppenheimer.
The Avatar director described Oppenheimer as a “moral cop out” saying the film “dodged the subject” in reference to the way the film dealt with the history of the Hiroshima bomb.
On August 5, a book about the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Ghosts Of Hiroshima, will be published – and there are plans for Cameron to turn this into a new project.
While he says he doesn’t “like to criticise another filmmaker’s film,” he told Deadline that he will tackle the topic in a different manner to Nolan.
Speaking to the publication, he said: “He’s got one brief scene in the film where we see – and I don’t like to criticise another filmmaker’s film – but there’s only one brief moment where he sees some charred bodies in the audience and then the film goes on to show how it deeply moved him.”
He continued: “But I felt that it dodged the subject. I don’t know whether the studio or Chris felt that that was a third rail that they didn’t want to touch, but I want to go straight at the third rail. I’m just stupid that way.”
He referenced the fact to Deadline that Nolan himself said that wasn’t the story he was telling in Oppenheimer and said it may take a director like Cameron to do it instead.
In response to that, Cameron continued: “OK, I’ll put up my hand. ‘I’ll do it, Chris. No problem’.
“You come to my premiere and say nice things…I can’t tell you today what’s going to be in the movie. I’ve been making notes for 15 years and I haven’t written a word of the script yet because there’s a point where it’s all there and then you start to write. That’s how I always work. I explore around, I remember the things that impact me. I start to assemble ’em into a narrative. And then there’s a moment where you’re ready to write. And I’m not in that head space right now.”
Cameron went on to say he admired the way fellow director Steven Spielberg’s handled history in Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. “He showed it the way it happened,” he added.
Oppenheimer went on to win Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, as well as becoming Nolan’s most successful non-Batman film to date at the box office. The film continued its dominance at home, becoming one of the best-selling DVD and Blu-rays of 2024.
Nolan’s next project is The Odyssey, a film based on the eighth century poetry text from Homer.
Nolan has assembled an all-star cast for the epic, calling on former collaborators Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, and Robert Pattinson in undisclosed roles. Making their first film with the Inception director will be Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron.
It’s not certain how closely the film will follow the original work, but studio Universal have promised “a mythic action epic shot across the world”.
It is considered one of the most influential works of all time and adapted to film and TV frequently over the years. Most notably, it was the inspiration for the 1954 adventure Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas and provided the basis for the 2000 comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? which was directed by The Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney.
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