As part of a feature for GQ Magazine, filmmaker James Cameron has done half-hour career retrospective video for the outlet discussing not just “Avatar” but several of his earlier works, including the first two “Terminator” films and “Aliens”.
On the latter front, he revealed how some tough contract negotiations led to him having to tell a little white lie to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s agent in order to get Sigourney Weaver signed on to the “Alien” sequel.
Cameron says that he spent months writing “Aliens” with the help of longtime producers Walter Hill and David Giler and thought the actress was attached as he assumed 20th Century Fox had insisted they had the option to bring her back. They didn’t.
This led to some tough negotiations, with Weaver asking for a million dollars to reprise her role. Cameron thought she should get that, but her agents and Fox were all playing hardball to the point it could’ve all fallen apart. That led to a fateful phone call:
“I called up Lou Pitt, Arnold’s agent, and I said, ‘Lou, we’re kind of over this. So, we’ve decided that we really like the story and all the Marine Corps characters and the world we’ve created and everything. And really, we’ve thought about it, and we really just don’t need Sigourney.
I’ve created all these characters, and my pride of authorship tells me I should go ahead with this, and we’ll just cut her out of it, and we’ll just cut her character out of it. We won’t recast it; I’ll just rewrite it. So, I’m going to start on that tonight.
Now, did I have any intention of doing that whatsoever? No, not at all. But I happen to know that Lou is at the same agency as Sigourney’s agent, who was in New York. And I knew that the second he hung up with me, he called him and said, ‘Sign Sigourney now.’
And guess what? The deal was done in 12 hours after that. So, I never wrote a word of that hypothetical story that I said I was going to do, that I had no intention of writing anyway. Anyway, it worked, and Sigourney got her million bucks, and everyone was happy.”
Cameron and Weaver are still friends today and worked together on the upcoming “Avatar: The Way of Water” which is slated to open on December 16th. You can find the full interview with Cameron over at GQ.
