Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of some of the best action movies of all time, explains why James Cameron is one of the Hollywood greats. But, it’s for a pretty scary reason.
James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger first worked together in what many consider to be the best science fiction movie ever made; Terminator. Arnie starts as the titular robot, who travels back in time to kill Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. The pair followed the adrenaline-pumping time-travelling action flick up with Terminator 2, which is every bit as good as the first and one of the best movies of all time.
Since then, action veteran has returned as the robot on multiple occasions, though none have lived up to the first two installments which he made with Cameron. Now, while hosting speaking An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles, THR reports how Schwarzenegger explained his reasoning for why James Cameron is the best director alive.
“He is, you know, the number one director in the world,” claimed the actor. Backing up his reasoning, he said that Cameron’s genius came from his writing, and his ability to predict the terrifying possible consequences of AI.
“Today, everyone is frightened of [AI], of where this is gonna go. And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over… at that time we scratched the surface of AI.”
He continued, “Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron. I can only take credit of the character that I played and the way I played it. But I mean, he has created this character. He has written it so well, he’s written the movie so well.”
It’s a pretty convincing argument from the Hollywood icon, who has clearly spent more time thinking about AI than most. While we’re not yet at the point where time-travelling robots are assassinating people (at least, that we know of) Cameron’s ability to pre-empt the idea of AI as a potential threat, back in the ’80s, is only becoming more impressive as time goes on.
Since making the Terminator movies, Cameron has continued to churn out modern classics with Titanic and the Avatar movies. Avatar 2 recently broke box office records, but the Avatar 3 release date is still some way away. Meanwhile, Arnie will be keeping himself busy making FUBAR season 2.
For more on the two, check out our guide to the best James Cameron movies, best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and find out everything new on Netflix as well as keeping on top of all the new movies coming in 2023.