James Cameron Explains Why He Wouldn't Have Directed 'Aquaman'

Acclaimed director James Cameron is no stranger to CGI, as many of his movies include heavy special effects that wow viewers. So with huge movies like Avatar under his belt, you’d expect Cameron to take a particular enjoyment in the special effects in recent blockbuster films, such as 2018’s Aquaman. But that isn't the case, although he did direct the fictional version of Aquaman featuring fictional movie star Vinnie Chase in HBO's series Entourage.

While interviewed by Yahoo!, Cameron said that while he enjoyed Aquaman, he didn't love the special effects and criticized them for the unrealistic underwater scenes, adding that he wouldn’t have even made the movie.

"I think it’s great fun,” Cameron began. “I never could have made that film, because it requires this kind of total dreamlike disconnection from any sense of physics or reality. People just kind of zoom around underwater, because they propel themselves mentally, I guess, I don’t know. But it’s cool! You buy it on its own terms.”

The director, who did many underwater shots with Titanic, added, “I’ve spent thousands of hours underwater. While I can enjoy that film, I don’t resonate with it because it doesn’t look real.”

Compared to Aquaman, which was shot on a soundstage, Cameron will be using state-of-the-art technology to shoot his realistic underwater scenes actually underwater for his next Avatar films.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.