James Cameron agreed with director Roland Emmerich that he is, indeed, overbearing. The “Avatar” filmmaker pushed back on this being a criticism when asked by The Hollywood Reporter about Emmerich’s decision to drop out of directing a “Fantastic Voyage” remake in 2007, which Cameron wrote a draft of and remains attached to as a producer.
“How is this a headline?” he probed.
During Collider’s Directors on Directing panel at Comic-Con, Emmerich cited Cameron’s “overbearing” behavior in the development process of the remake as his reason for leaving the project.
“I’ve never said anything negative about Roland,” Cameron said. “But anyway: Yes, I’m overbearing. Damn right. When it’s a project where I’ve contributed to the writing, I might actually have an opinion on it.”
“I actually don’t even remember talking to Roland Emmerich about ‘Fantastic.’ I remember the other directors that we worked with for months on end trying to develop that project. If I talked to Roland, it was for two minutes. I have a pretty good memory, and I don’t remember that at all,” he continued.
The “Titanic” director tabled any further conversation on the status of the “Fantastic Voyage,” calling it a “non-story.” However, he noted in April that he planned to move forward with the film soon.
A number of directors have since eyed the submarine sci-fi film, including Paul Greengrass, Shawn Levy and Guillermo del Toro. “Fantastic Voyage” followed a submarine crew as they shrunk down to enter the body of a scientist who suffered a brain injury. The 1966 film, directed by Richard Fleischer, starred Raquel Welch and Stephen Boyd.
While there was no update on that underwater adventure drama, Cameron’s National Geographic documentary series “OceanXplorers” will be available to stream Sunday on Hulu and Disney+. The series is coproduced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit and OceanX for National Geographic. Cameron and Maria Wilhelm are executive producers for Lightstorm Entertainment.
“OceanXplorers” takes audiences aboard the OceanX’s state-of-the-art scientific research and exploration vessel to investigate the unknown depths of the world’s oceans. National Geographic explorers and other ocean experts work to solve some of the ocean’s greatest mysteries through the lives of its animals and their ecosystems.
