Why James Cameron No Longer Directs the Way He Used To

James Cameron recently sat down with journalist Graham Bensinger for a conversation about his legendary reputation for intensity—and how it's changed over the years.

Cameron will readily admit he was previously difficult to work with. But he’s changed. The director of Titanic , Avatar , and Terminator opened up about a massive shift in how he approaches leadership, and he explains why in the conversation below.

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The Moment He Changed

"You said there was a time when ‘making a film was the most important thing in the world to me,’" Bensinger said in their conversation. "Now it's not."

"Yes," Cameron responded. "It's a thing that I love to do, but I know how important my family is."

Cameron pinpoints exactly when his perspective changed. He was sitting in NASA advisory council meetings after making Titanic , surrounded by geniuses and engineers working on space and deep-ocean projects.

"Everybody in that room, they were all PhDs, they were all top engineers, aerospace people," Cameron said. "They all felt they were doing something very important in the world. And none of them went to the movies. They just didn't care."

Here were brilliant, purpose-driven people who couldn't give one flying flip about Hollywood, Cameron thought. That revelation was significant enough that he took a seven-year sabbatical from filmmaking between 1998 and 2005, during which he built subs, developed deep-sea cameras, and worked on Mars rover technology. (You know, James Cameron stuff.)

As we've covered in pieces about work-life balance while breaking into the industry, your perspective and drive can change. And that change can be good for your mental health and your longevity in this business.

What Cameron Used to Be Like

Cameron doesn't sugarcoat his previous on-set behavior. Cameron was famously cast as an angry perfectionist who butted heads with crews on film like Aliens and The Abyss. (You probably already know how Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio walked off the set of the latter.)

"In the early days, you know, where I did put the film first above all things, there were interactions I would have that I'd feel guilty about later," he said. "At that time, I had a righteous sense of having been aggrieved by someone who was supposed to do something and didn't do it, and it was compromising the art."

Notice Cameron said he felt “righteous.” A safe, diplomatic word I like to use is “precious.” You get so attached to a vision that you’re stubbornly stuck on and refuse to let go, to the detriment of relationships and your reputation.

And for Cameron, when someone didn't deliver, "that person became—I don't want to say my enemy—they became a problem," he said.

Many emerging directors fall into this trap. When you're responsible for getting a film made, and someone drops the ball, it's easy to view them as an obstacle rather than a collaborator who made a mistake. We've written before about how directors should handle conflicts with actors, but Cameron's insight applies across your entire crew.

The problem with the "righteous" approach is that it doesn't help you make a better film. It leads to discomfort and discord. And it definitely doesn't build the kind of team that wants to work with you again.

"It's taken a long time to unwind that, and I don't think that way anymore now," Cameron said. "I think, okay, if we're a good enough team, we can take up and compensate for any mistake that has happened, and blame doesn't help."

As we covered in our piece on leadership skills every director should have, the best leaders don't expect to have all the answers. They build teams that can solve problems together. Cameron learned this the hard way.

Cameron shows his ongoing collaborations as proof of his evolved approach.

"Michael Biehn would not have worked with me on three films if he thought I was a complete dick, right?" he said.

Bill Paxton, Sigourney Weaver, and Tom Cruise are among those who returned to work with him.

Avatar: Fire And Ash Credit: Disney

Learning from Ron Howard, Too

Perhaps the most telling moment in the interview comes when Cameron describes watching Ron Howard thank the Digital Domain team working on Apollo 13.

"He came over to tell everybody what a great job they were doing," Cameron said. "And I watched him just say to people, you know, this stuff is amazing. You guys are great. And I thought, 'Wow, I probably should have done that a few times, you know, over the years.'"

I have a similar story. I was working a house party once, part of a catering and support crew working out of a garage. At the end of the night, who came in? Bryan Cranston, to thank us for our work during the event.

A “thank you” isn’t difficult, but it goes a long way. And it’s unfortunate that the bar is set so low that it’s almost world-shattering when it happens.

Cameron sums it up perfectly, "An ‘attaboy’ gets you much farther than the crack of a whip.”

For directors who pride themselves on making demands, don’t forget the power of simple positive reinforcement. Our piece on the dos and don'ts of directing actors covers this extensively. People respond better to encouragement than to constant criticism.

One of Cameron's most useful insights comes near the end of the conversation.

"Some actors don't want to be given a lot of notes," he said. "They want to process themselves. ... Others want notes. You find out after a while who benefits from a lot of chitchat, a lot of communication."

Adapting communication styles is exactly what we covered in our article on learning how to talk to actors. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to directing.

"The more I talk, the more I react, and I can share what's popping into my mind in the moment with them, the better they can be to serve the film," Cameron said.

What This Means for You

Early in your career, you might think intensity and uncompromising vision are what separate you from amateurs. And, sure, you do need to care deeply about your work.

But long-term success will come from building teams that want to work with you again. You can have high standards and challenge others to meet you at your level, but you can do it kindly, and maybe even have a little fun in the process. And being pleasant to work with isn't a weakness.

Cameron still makes demanding, ambitious films. But now he’s a leader who doesn’t push his team to the point of breaking down.