Canton Slams Cameron For Being a Pompous Jerk

Last week, Avatar director James Cameron spoke exclusively to VanityFair.com, where he was invited to spill at will on his films, as well as the films of others. Well, VF must have learned there lesson. Don't get me started.

Once the flood gates were opened, the award winning director took the opportunity to tear a strip into fellow movie-maker Mark Canton. Canton, the mastermind behind Pihranna 3D, a film getting unbelievable amounts of positive press, was so shocked and offended by the way that his peer dogged him to the press, that he bite back with this statement:

"As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron's comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made Piranha 3D. Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own. It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one. His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric....

Jim, are you kidding or what? First of all, let's start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of PIRANHA 2 and you were fired. Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in the history of cinema than you. Martin Scorcese made Boxcar Bertha at the beginning of his career. And Francis Ford CoppolaDimentia 13 back in 1963. And those are just a few examples of the talented and successful filmmakers whose roots are in genre films. Who are you to impugn any genre film or its creators?...

My sense is that Mr. Cameron has never seen PIRANHA 3Dcertainly not in a movie theatre with a real audience. Jim, we invite you to take that opportunity and experience the movie in a theatre full of fans - fans for whom this movie was always intended to entertain. Does Mr. Cameron have no idea of the painstaking efforts made by the talented young filmmaker Alex Aja and his team of collaborators? Clearly, and this one is a good bet, he has no clue as to how great and how much of a fun-filled experience the audiences who have seen the film in 3D have enjoyed....

... What it comes down to, Jim, is - that like most things in life - size doesn't really matter. Not everyone has the advantage of having endless amounts of money to play in their sandbox and to take ten years using other people's money to make and market a film.like you do. Why can't you just count your blessings?

...Why do you have to drop Marty Scorsese's or Tim Burton's names, both gentlemen who I have personally worked with, and who have enjoyed great joy and success with movies of all genres and sizes well before the advent of modern 3D? Then as now, they were like kids in a candy store recognizing, far beyond your imagination, the possibilities of storytelling and originality. For the record, before you just totally dismiss PIRANHA 3D and all, in your opinion, worthless genre movies that actually undoubtedly gave you the ability to start your career, you should know that PIRANHA 3D had an 82% "fresh" (positive) ratting on Rotten Tomatoes on opening day - a web site that all the studios, filmmakers and the public use as a barometer of what makes a quality film....

We know that PIRANHA 3D has not achieved a box office that is on the level of many of Mr. Cameron's successes. To date, PIRANHA 3D has earned over $30 million around the globe with #1 openings in several countries. And, as the "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes indicates, critics and many, many others have embraced and celebrated PIRANHA 3D for the fun and entertaining - and even smart - movie-going experience that it is. Let's just keep this in mind Jim.you did not invent 3D...

...Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis...

....While we are all awed by your talents and your box office successes - and I compliment you on all of them - why don't you rethink how you address films with which you are not involved? You should be taking the high road that is being travelled by so many of your peers, and pulling with them to ensure that we, as an industry, will have a continuum of talented filmmakers that will deliver a myriad of motion pictures both big and small, with 3D or any other technologies yet to come that will entertain audiences throughout the world. That is the challenge that we face. That is the future that we should deliver. Please go see PIRANHA in a theatre near you."

A little bit long-winded, of course, but we're happy that someone finally put Cameron in his place. We're almost has excited about this cutting rebuttal as we were when Cameron's ex massacred him at the Oscars.

You like apples, Cameron?

Well how do you like them apples. BOOYA!

Billie Misha
		About the author:
		Billie got her start in the media industry as a photographer. Snapping on red carpets and at film events, she quickly learned that if a picture speaks a thousand words, a blogger speaks a million. She has written for dozens of websites and online publications, and loves to scoop stories on the steamiest scandals, the biggest and best trends,and whatever else is making news RIGHT NOW!
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