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Researchers collected Cameron’s sketches and
paintings as a young man and compiled them into thematic
chapters. When Cameron first read the book, he was astounded.
“I think those strong thematic threads were the surprise or the
revelation to me, because I’d just always thought it was all
scattershot," he said.
Cameron began drawing as a child, and as a young man he focused
on scenes based on his favorite sci-fi stories and comic books.
One of his first forays into movies was creating the fantasy
world of "Xenogenesis," a film that never saw the light of day
but a pilot can be seen on YouTube.
The book shows pages of concept art from the unproduced film
with much of the imagery foreshadowing scenes from "Terminator,"
"Aliens" and "Avatar."
"Every idea I ever had for a plant or an animal or a planet or a
piece of technology or a robot or anything, I just stopped my
life for a year and a half and drew it all up. It’s really all
the things I was playing around with, kind of in the sidelines
of my life,” Cameron said.
“The Terminator” was based on a dream in which he saw a robotic
man emerging from flames; an entire sequence in "Aliens" was
based on a nightmare; and the blue Na’vi humanoids from "Avatar"
originated from a dream his mother told him about.
Cameron ground his fantasy designs in reality, creating
anatomically correct aliens, fully operative machinery and
aerodynamic spacecraft.
"There’s a sense that what’s happening is very real and very
immediate. You can kind of project your mind into the screen and
into the story because ... what’s happening looks like it could
be real,” he said.
"Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron,” published by Insight
Editions, is available in bookstores now.
(Reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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