I really want to try and interview James Cameron when his "Avatar" sequel is released, I think that the conversation would veer towards sheer movie fandom. The guy loves talking movies and always has interesting tidbits about the process. Take for example his being at the Titanic Museum in Belfast, where Cameron admitted that he was trying to win the rights to Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park," but was bested by Spielberg by only a few hours. Cameron does admit he wasn't the right person for the job:
“But when I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair. Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.”
I think the Spielberg film is alright, I wasn’t wowed by it but I respected its importance. I think a lot of Gen X millennials that grew up with it have sealed its reputation. It was a movie event back in the day, the special effects have aged well, but the Spielberg-ian, Kiddie aspect of it always turned me off. What can I say...