James Cameron’s next movie is a 3D IMAX documentary, Aliens of the Deep, that examines life miles below the ocean’s surface. His next movie, Battle Angel, based on the Japanese manga, will use the same camera technology. From After ‘Titanic,’ Director Visits Ocean Depths:
“If I never touch film again, I’d be happy. Filmmaking is not about film, not about sprockets. It’s about ideas, it’s about images, it’s about imagination, it’s about storytelling,” he said, adding, “If I had the cameras I’m using now when I was shooting ‘Titanic,’ I would have shot ‘Titanic’ using them.”His next project will be shot with a new generation of the Cameron/Pace Reality System 3D camera. The film, “Battle Angel,” is based on a series of Japanese graphic novels.
“It takes place in the 26th century, and it’s the story of a young girl who has an organic human brain and an entirely synthetic body,” he said. “She’s a cyborg warrior, it turns out, although she doesn’t know that initially, due to amnesia. It’s a hero’s journey, ultimately.”
Cameron has conceived “Battle Angel” as the first of a three-part series. “If we’re successful, we’ll make the other films. If we’re not, we won’t.”
Most science fiction, says the director, has wandered away from its roots ever since “Star Wars.”
“As much as I love ‘Star Wars,’ and as much as it’s really revolutionized the imaging business, it went off the rails in the sense that science fiction, historically, was a science fiction of ideas. It was thematic fiction. It stopped being that and became just pure eye candy and pure entertainment.”
“And I miss that. With ‘Battle Angel,’ I’m going to flirt with that darker, dystopian message as much as I can, without making it an art film,” he said.