James Cameron tempers his temper and channels his inner Na'vi

Maureen Dowd

- 

When James Cameron swept the Oscars in 1998 for Titanic (1997), he got onstage and crowed that he was “the king of the world”.

Going overboard is his modus vivendi. Many in Hollywood had expected his shipwreck movie to be the new Cleopatra, a sodden US$200 million (S$258 million) bust.

In a rave for The New York Times, film critic Janet Maslin called Titanic a “spectacle as sweeping as the sea”. She also noted that Cameron was telling his own story in the film - “a presumptuous reach for greatness against all reasonable odds”, arrogance run amok, Icarus redux.

Sitting in his Lightstorm Entertainment museum at Manhattan Beach Studios, south of Hollywood, California, the Canadian director, writer, artist and explorer drolly rebutted the Icarus comparison.

“Hubris and arrogance precedes a fall,” he said. “And I'm very, very conscious of that. I’m actually very cautious.”

Before the first Avatar came out in 2009, animated series South Park (1997 to present) satirised it as Dances With Smurfs. But as the third instalment, Avatar: Fire And Ash, rolls out on Dec 18, clocking in at three hours and 17 minutes, Cameron is having the last laugh.

He may despise the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, as he says. But he is indeed the king of the world there. Faith in his commercial prowess is so great that the Golden Globes nominated Avatar for best cinematic and box-office achievement before its release.