So you are all ready to go see TITANIC this weekend, you've read the very enthusiastic reviews, seen the cool trailers and you have heard the history of the film for months. (Some of you for years) And now... Ya wanna know what's next for James Cameron, the man who performs, without a net, 2000 feet above center ring in an earthquake and with a hostile crowd crying out blood.
Well I know exactly what he is going to do next!!! Avatar! NO!!! True Lies 2! NO!!! T3! NO!!! Alien 5! NO!!! Planet of the Apes! NO!!! Anne Rice's The Mummy! NO!!! That Sun Blowing Up Thingamagig! NO!!! Crowded Room! NO!!! Spiderman! NO!!! Some small itsy bitsy teeny weeny non-digital effects back to the basics film!!! God, I sure as hell don't know!!!
Below are reports from across the United States and Canada about what Cameron has said on the record in interviews done recently. See if you can figure it out.
This first one comes from one of hundreds of Los Angeles Geeks that sent in various letters to the same degree. I'll call him/her the Douglas Fir!
"You've probably got a million messages about this already, but today's LA Times claims Cameron's next project is Planet Of The Apes."
The second one comes from a land beyond beyond, a world past hope and fear, and his name is Bahrani, and he'll bring you a rope if you really want it.
"I don't know, but the "Sun exploding and everyone runs away with all their literature and art"-storyline sounds very much like the story in Gene Wolfe's books about a future Earth where the culture is similar to the dark Ages ,while the technology (controlled by the rulers only) is eons ahead of ours, and the sun is about to go nova... Just thought you'd like to know...and no, I can't recall the names of the books, but they're pretty decent...like sci-fi mixed with a hint of fantasy, but still pure sci-fi..."
This third one came from one of those HB characters... Huckleberry Hound, who is definately the Frank Sinatra of cartoon characters in my eyes. That suave debonair style, and that voice, a lullabye to the auditory senses...
"I just got done reading the news about the Cameron film involving the earth being destroyed. Could this be the shelved Peter Hyams project "Bright Angel Falling" ???"
Then this fourth one comes from that weird Grim Reaper character that continues to get his score up past 52...
"About the scoop article you have on James Cameron's next film: True Lies 2 couldn't possibly be shooting in Feburary because Jamie Lee Curtis will start shooting Halloween 7 in late January and I really doubt the film would go ahead without her. Tom Arnold must be exagerating or something. ;-)"
Then this fifth one came by way of this mild mannered metropolitan citizen named Barry Allen brought this one in, in a flash...
"The New York Times ran an article about Cameron on Sunday. Here's what it said about his next film:
BEGIN_QUOTE Between the making of "Terminator 2" (1991) and "True Lies," Mr. Cameron was also producer for the movies "Strange Days" and "Point Break," which were directed by his third wife, Kathryn Bigelow. After "Titanic," he said, he plans to take a similar break, producing action films by other directors and searching for a smaller-scale project to call his own.
"I've been thinking about that a lot: going back to that hand-held Cassavetes-type stuff," he said. "The film would have to be so stripped down. The second I added one digital shot, it would invite comparison to films I'd done on a much greater budget. I would want it to be a pure writing-and-acting exercise, with nothing else to get dazzled or distracted by." END_QUOTE"
Then this sixth one came by way of Al Capone's Accountant, who was bringing over now legal barrels of hooch. Yummmmm hooooooooooch, where's Turner?
"In the Georgia Straight (a weekly alternative here in Vancouver, B.C.) there was an interview with James Cameron for the release of Titanic. At the end the interviewer asked about what Cameron is planning for the near future:
GS: Could you talk quickly about any other things that you have coming up?
JC: It's a short conversation. I've nothing planned right now. Literally zero.
GS: Well, you have Avatar, don't you?
JC: I've written it, but I don't know if I want to make it. T3 [Terminator 3] may happen as a film at some point, but I won't be involved. And Spiderman is in legal limbo because the rights are very tied up.
GS: How about the True Lies sequel?
JC: The True Lies sequel is something we've talked about doing and is certainly a possibility, but I wouldn't direct it. It's something I'd like to do, actually, but I haven't actually done anything about it.
GS: And the Anne Rice project, The Mummy?
JC: The Mummy is something that I'm developing [with screenwriter Steve Katz]. Once again, we don't have a script yet that we want to go forward with.
GS: You would direct it?
JC: I would call it a remote possibility.
GS: And you're also producing The Furthes Place [with director Rupert Wainwright].
JC: Right. Once again, that's in development.
GS: It sounds interesting, a female action movie set in China.
JC: Yeah, it is. It's an intriguing thing set in Shanghai. The writer [David Schow, writer of The Crow] originally set it in Hong Kong, because he knows Hong Kong better, but Hong Kong reverted to China before he could get the film mounted, so now he switched it to Shanghai, which he thinks will work even better. Anyway, in terms of my own directing stuff, I haven't really decided what to tackle next."
