James Cameron Shoots War Film "Last Train from Hiroshima"

Legendary director James Cameron is back with a new project – and no, it's not the next "Avatar" part. The now 70-year-old is shooting the war film "Last Train from Hiroshima".

As Deadline reports, Cameron was able to secure the rights to Charles Pellegrino's new book "Ghosts of Hiroshima", which will now serve as the basis for an "uncompromising" film. The film, which is based on Pellegrino's two non-fiction books, will tell the true story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a Japanese survivor who lived through the atomic explosion in Hiroshima, then boarded a train to Nagasaki and survived the second atomic bombing there, too.

According to Cameron, it was a story he had always wanted to make a movie about. For this purpose, he met with Tsutomu Yamaguchi and was deeply inspired by his story. James Cameron's interest in the themes of war and destruction has long been reflected in his work. Even in his earlier works, such as "Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", the director dealt intensively with the fear of nuclear war and the devastating consequences of technological destruction.

This fascination can be traced back to Cameron's own childhood: At the age of eight, he experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis and realized the threat of nuclear war for the first time.

It is currently unknown when "Last Train from Hiroshima" will be released in movie theaters. Either way, the film is only likely to be realized when the production of the new "Avatar" movies allows it. We can't wait!

A Brief Overview of James Cameron's Career to Date

Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Canada. After dropping out of a physics degree at university, he moved to California in 1971, where he initially made a living as a truck driver. However, his fascination with films led him to venture into the film industry.

The Breakthrough in Hollywood

His career began with smaller projects, but his breakthrough came in 1984 with "The Terminator". The science fiction film, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a deadly cyborg from the future, made Cameron famous overnight. Despite a modest budget, "The Terminator" became a worldwide success and laid the foundation for Cameron's reputation as a master of action cinema. Following the success of "The Terminator", Cameron was given the opportunity to direct the sequel to Ridley Scott's horror classic "Alien". "Aliens" built on the dark atmosphere of the original, but added an action-packed dimension that made the movie a classic of the genre. Cameron's ability to combine suspense and action with complex characters was particularly evident here.

His next major project, "The Abyss", underlined Cameron's pioneering spirit in terms of visual effects and innovative film techniques. The film, which tells a story about an underwater expedition that encounters alien life, was technically groundbreaking, but less commercially successful than his earlier works.

The next big success came with "Terminator 2: Judgment Day". The sequel surpassed the original in every respect and set new standards for visual effects, particularly through the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI). The liquid metal figure of the T-1000 is still one of the best-known examples of early CGI technology. Another action hit followed in 1994 with "True Lies", in which Arnold Schwarzenegger once again played the leading role.

The Oscar Successes "Titanic" and "Avatar"

Three years later, "Titanic" was released, one of the most successful movies ever, which was anything but cheap with a budget of over 200 million US dollars. Despite initial skepticism, "Titanic" developed into a mega-success and grossed over 2 billion US dollars globally. It was also awarded 11 Oscars, including in the "Best Film" and "Best Director" categories.

After this huge success, Cameron withdrew from the limelight for a few years to work on his next visionary project: "Avatar". The science fiction film, set in the world of Pandora, revolutionized cinema once again with its groundbreaking 3D technology and became the most successful film of all time with box office takings of 2.8 billion dollars. The blockbuster also won three Oscars.

Since then, Cameron has mainly devoted himself to developing further "Avatar" sequels, the second of which, "Avatar: The Way of Water", was released in 2022.