James Cameron May Board Adaptation of THE LAST TRAIN TO HIROSHIMA

According to Monsters And Critics, James Cameron visited a 93-year-old man named Tsutomu Yamaguchi on December 22nd.  Yamaguchi, who died of stomach cancer on Monday, is most famous as the only official survivor of both the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.  Cameron reportedly visited Yamaguchi with Charles Pellegrino, the author of The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, to discuss a possible future film about nuclear weaponry.  For more details on the visit and what could potentially be Cameron’s follow-up to Avatar, hit the jump.

Yamaguchi says that Cameron told him he was interested in making a film so that he could pass on the tragic story of suffering through two atomic blasts on to future generations, promising that the film would be “uncompromising”. Cameron also told Yamaguchi that the fear of nuclear war has been on his mind since watching the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold when he was eight years old.  After the meeting, Yamaguchi proclaimed, “I think it’s Cameron’s and Pellegrino’s destiny to make a film about nuclear weapons.”

Cameron has certainly shown an interest in the dangers of technology and scientific advancement, most notably in the man-vs.-machine thesis of the Terminator franchise, while Avatar is sympathetic to the primitive life of the Na’vi under attack by humans with advanced technology.  Nuclear weaponry is certainly a topic which supports such thought, as technology with the ability to wipe out thousands in a matter of seconds is daunting.  The moral implications of dropping an atomic bomb do seem like a solid foundation on which to base a film; I would like to see what Cameron, a master of cinematic tension, could do with the topic.

Cameron has been coy about what exactly his next move will be (An Avatar sequel? The long in-development Battle Angel?), so it could very well be this hypothetical film. Know that, due to the tremendous cashflow of Avatar, it will be just about anything he wants to make. For now, consider this heresay and speculation, but if any more news comes in on a Cameron atomic bomb movie, we’ll keep you updated.