Is James Cameron Being... Nice?

There's no denying that James Cameron creates blockbusters. Most of his films aren't to my liking, but they make an indelible mark on our culture. Everyone is familiar with his work, from The Terminator to Titanic. His latest movie, Avatar, has shattered all kinds of records and is being hailed as a new form of filmmaking. It's just a shame they forgot to include a script. A not so well-kept secret is the size of Cameron's ego. His "I'm king of the world!" Oscar acceptance speech for Titanic left a lot of people shaking their head's in awe. Sorry, James - it wasn't that good. Perhaps age has mellowed him. I doubt he's ever tasted humble pie, but something has changed his tune. And the new James is, dare I say, nice. Huh. Details, via Celebitchy:

[One of the biggest contests of the year will be for Best Director and Best Picture. James Cameron and Avatar seem like the easy favorites - Avatar, after all, has made a bajillion dollars, and Cameron and his team pretty much invented a new way to make movies. So you'd think Cameron and Avatar would be the established winners by now, right? Not so much. Because Hollywood loves to shatter a glass ceiling, and this year that glass ceiling might be for the first woman to ever win Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker. She also happens to be Cameron's ex-wife. And she also happens to be a director Cameron has long-championed.

When Cameron was being interviewed by Charlie Rose yesterday, he claimed that his "fantasy" was for Bigelow to win Best Director, and for Avatar to win Best Picture. Which is honestly how I think it's going to go down, but it's still nice to hear Cameron be so magnanimous with a fellow director, not to mention his ex-wife. I do think it's high time a woman won Best Director, but I fear the backlash against Bigelow if she wins, especially because it's such a small film. I tend to think Cameron worries about a backlash against her too, and that's why he's coming out ahead of the Oscars to tell the industry that he'll support her victory if it happens. Which is extremely classy, I think.]

He's still angling the biggest prize for himself, but the boon of Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow would certainly be huge. It seems this year's Academy Awards ceremony is going to be very interesting indeed!

[Photo Credit: When did James Cameron and T Bone Burnett start sharing a mirror?]

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