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THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Set Visit Preview and 4 Awesome New Posters!PIRANHA 3D Producer Mark Canton Fires Back at James Cameron
by Jason Barr Posted:August 31st, 2010 at 3:53 pm
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Veteran producer Mark Canton has had enough of James Cameron criticizing other people’s films. A few weeks ago, Cameron was telling Entertainment Weekly that The Hurt Locker would have been better in 3D. Fast-forward to the present, and Cameron is back in his film critic hat telling Vanity Fair that movies like Alexandre Aja’s Piranha 3D are “exactly what we should not be doing in 3D.” Naturally, the film’s co-producer, Mark Canton, took exception to Cameron’s comments and has circulated an open letter to the hyper-successful filmmaker in response. Some of the highlights from the letter include:
- “It is amazing that in the movie-making process – which is certainly a team sport – that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one.”
- “ Let’s just keep this in mind Jim…you did not invent 3D.”
- “Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis.”
While I have defended Mr. Cameron on the site for his contributions as a filmmaker, even I have to admit that I’d rather he spend more time working on his own films than giving his opinion on everyone else’s. In short, for all that he has brought to the practice, film analysis is not one of them and, personally, I would prefer it stay that way. To read the almost 1,500 word letter in its entirety, hit the jump. Finally, as always, feel free to discuss your thoughts on Piranha 3D and its use of the technology in the comments.
Here’s the full letter:
Piranha 3D Producer Mark Canton Responds to James Cameron
As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron’s comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made PIRANHA 3D. Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own. It is amazing that in the movie-making process – which is certainly a team sport – that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one. His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric.
Jim, are you kidding or what? First of all, let’s start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of PIRANHA 2 and you were fired. Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in the history of cinema than you. Martin Scorcese made Boxcar Bertha at the beginning of his career. And Francis Ford Coppola made Dementia 13 back in 1963. And those are just a few examples of the talented and successful filmmakers whose roots are in genre films. Who are you to impugn any genre film or its creators?
Having been deeply involved, as either an executive or as a producer, on Tim Burton’s original BATMAN and the first MEN IN BLACK, as well as 300, and now IMMORTALS, one of the things that has been consistent about all of the filmmakers involved in these landscape-changing global films is that, in each and every case, all of the directors were humbled by their predecessors, their colleagues and by their awareness of the great history of film that came before them. The enjoyment and the immersion of an audience in a movie theatre, as they had and will have with the above-mentioned films, and as audiences are experiencing with PIRNAHA 3D now, comes from the originality and the vision of the filmmaker, and not just from the creation of the technology. You as much as anyone certainly knows that there are many pieces to the puzzle. Going to the movies still remains, arguably, amongst the best communal experiences that human beings can share.
My sense is that Mr. Cameron has never seen PIRANHA 3D…certainly not in a movie theatre with a real audience. Jim, we invite you to take that opportunity and experience the movie in a theatre full of fans - fans for whom this movie was always intended to entertain.
Does Mr. Cameron have no idea of the painstaking efforts made by the talented young filmmaker Alex Aja and his team of collaborators? Clearly, and this one is a good bet, he has no clue as to how great and how much of a fun-filled experience the audiences who have seen the film in 3D have enjoyed. Those of us who have tried to stay in touch with the common movie audiences – the ones who really matter, the ones who actually still go to the theatre, put on the glasses, and eat the popcorn – take joy and pride in the fact that movies of all kinds, including PIRANHA 3D, have a place in filmmaking history – past, present and future. 3D unto itself is not a genre Jim, it is a tool that gives audiences an enhanced experience as they experience all kinds of movies. I believe Mr. Cameron did not see PIRANHA 3D either with any real audience or not at all. On opening weekend, I was in a Los Angeles theatre with a number of today’s great film makers including JJ Abrams, who actually had nothing short of the fabulous, fun 3D experience that the movie provides. I am fortunate enough to have worked on, and continue to work on, evolutionary movies in all formats from just simple good story telling, which still matters most of all, to CG movies to tent-pole size 3D movies, and genre 3D movies like PIRANHA 3D.
What it comes down to, Jim, is - that like most things in life – size doesn’t really matter. Not everyone has the advantage of having endless amounts of money to play in their sandbox and to take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film…like you do. Why can’t you just count your blessings? Why do you have to drop Marty Scorsese’s or Tim Burton’s names, both gentlemen who I have personally worked with, and who have enjoyed great joy and success with movies of all genres and sizes well before the advent of modern 3D? Then as now, they were like kids in a candy store recognizing, far beyond your imagination, the possibilities of storytelling and originality.
For the record, before you just totally dismiss PIRANHA 3D and all, in your opinion, worthless genre movies that actually undoubtedly gave you the ability to start your career, you should know that PIRANHA 3D had an 82% “fresh” (positive) ratting on Rotten Tomatoes on opening day - a web site that all the studios, filmmakers and the public use as a barometer of what makes a quality film.
We know that PIRANHA 3D has not achieved a box-office that is on the level of many of Mr. Cameron’s successes. To date, PIRANHA 3D has earned over $30 million around the globe with #1 openings in several countries. And, as the “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes indicates, critics and many, many others have embraced and celebrated PIRANHA 3D for the fun and entertaining – and even smart – movie-going experience that it is.
Let’s just keep this in mind Jim…you did not invent 3D. You were fortunate that others inspired you to take it further. The simple truth is that I had nothing but good things to say about AVATAR and my own experience since I actually saw it and didn’t damn someone else’s talent publicly in order to disassociate myself from my origins in the business from which we are all very fortunate. To be honest, I found the 3D in AVATAR to be inconsistent and while ground breaking in many respects, sometimes I thought it overwhelmed the storytelling. Technology aside, I wish AVATAR had been more original in its storytelling.
We have to inspire, teach and mentor this next generation of filmmakers. It is garbage to suggest that any film or any filmmaker who cannot afford to work to your standards should be dissuaded from following his or her craft by not making 3D movies or not making movies like DISTRICT 9, for example, which probably cost the amount of AVATAR’s craft services budget, but totally rocked it in the movie theatre and in the marketplace. In that case, it was not a 3D movie. But had it been, it certainly would not have been any less original or impactful. The enormous worldwide success of AVATAR has been good in all respects for you, your financiers, your distributors and the industry, as well as for the movie going public. Jim, there is a difference between Maestro which is a word that garners respect, and Dictator or Critic which are words better left for others who are not in our mutual boat or on our team. You are one of the best, it is reasonable to think that you should dig deeper and behave like it. Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis.
While we are all awed by your talents and your box office successes – and I compliment you on all of them – why don’t you rethink how you address films with which you are not involved? You should be taking the high road that is being traveled by so many of your peers, and pulling with them to ensure that we, as an industry, will have a continuum of talented filmmakers that will deliver a myriad of motion pictures both big and small, with 3D or any other technologies yet to come that will entertain audiences throughout the world. That is the challenge that we face. That is the future that we should deliver.
Please go see PIRANHA 3D in a theatre near you.
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Related Links
- First Trailer for James Cameron’s TITANIC 3D
- Paramount Shows 18 Minutes of TITANIC 3D; Reaction and Video Blog Recap
- 16-Minute Video of James Cameron and Michael Bay Discussing 3D
- James Cameron Creates New Company to Shove 3D Down Everyone’s Throat
- WonderCon 2011: IMMORTALS Presentation – Which Featured the Premiere of the Teaser Trailer
Ouch, that’s gonna leave a mark.
Cameron’s pretty cocky for a guy who spent half a billion remaking Fern Gully.
Piranha 3D > Avatar
Jim…you’ve been TOLD!!!! Politely too.
I have not yet seen piranha 3D, but it just looks like a FUN movie. Boobs and killer fish. I don’t know if I can dish out the extra dough for the 3D experience though.
I did see Pocahontas, err I mean Avatar in normal D, very colorful.
That was the most brilliantly written “Quit being a douche” letter I have ever read. Bravo and I am glad Piranha was the first 3D movie that was compelling enough to get me to endure a public theater to go see. It was worth every penny.
Tricky to comment without seeing what Cameron actually said first, but i imagine he wasnt actually calling Pirahna 3D crap.
I reckon he is just concerned that the new 3D technology that he built up with Avatar is being diluted in quality and will be abused (clash of the titans style) which could potentially destroy what Jim has just worked so hard on developing.
Especially as i read that piranha 3D was not actually filmed in 3D. Basically i imagine Jim is trying to say, if you overuse a great magic trick, it stops being magic, and becomes gimmick.
As for Avatar not being original, so what???? Did everyone go round saying Jurassic Park & Edward scissorhands anf thousands more like em are rip offs of Frankenstein? No, we just enjoyed them for the fun movies that they are.
Pwned!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pwned!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW! That had some venom in it. But it was still a classy comeback. I admit I love Cameron’s movies. AVATAR, not so much. How it made all that money still boggles my mind. But ever since AVATAR had all that success Cameron has been coming off really arrogant. Yes you directed the No 1 movie of all time but it’s not the best movie ever made, not even close.
I like how he reminded Cameron that he did not invent 3D.
3D does not make a great movie better.
You do know you can read what he said in the link they provide in the article for Vanity Fair, or did you miss that? If so here:
Was there any sense of nostalgia when the Piranha movie came out last weekend?
Zero. You’ve got to remember: I worked on Piranha 2 for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever. In fact, I would go even farther and say that… I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D. It is a renaissance—right now the biggest and the best films are being made in 3-D. Martin Scorsese is making a film in 3-D. Disney’s biggest film of the year—Tron: Legacy—is coming out in 3-D. So it’s a whole new ballgame.
Sounds like Cameron just doesn’t like when people stop talking about his movies….. bummer. Anyways- Really nice and logical letter to tell Cameron to stop being acting like he’s the only one allowed to make a good 3D movie, or really just make a movie. It’s quickly becoming harder and harder to defend Cameron. Yes he’s made a bunch of great movie but he’s really been acting like a dick recently and sounds like he’s pretty full of himself too. (also Avatar only has a 83% on Rotten Tomatoes if that means anything to this)
Piranha #D was this little thing called a great time Mr. Cameron. no offense, man, I love all your movies, but I like piranha better than, say, True lies, so you’ve lost a few points in my opinon sir.
Wasn’t the original Pirahna movies in 3-D? So, having the remake be in 3-D is not ripping off Cameron in my book.
Cameron, by the way, Marvel called, they want the royalties from the TERMINATOR 1 movie because it is a blatant rip off of Days of Future Past
A$$clown
Excuse me Mr. Cameron. Maybe i should actually watch Pocahontas errr….. Avatar again. i didnt really notice anything ground breaking. So i doubt people are going to be worshipping you anytime in the near future. My kids like it though cause of all those pretty colors. Piranha 3D was freaking awesome for what it was. We had a blast in the theatre and would gladly go see it again.
The difference was people didn’t lose their minds over either of the movies you mentioned. People did not contemplate suicide because Dinosaurs no longer walked the earth, neither film grossed nearly $3 billion, and neither was nominated for Best Picture. They were good movies, so was Avatar, but none of them deserved the level of hype that Avatar received.
Besides, Jurassic Park and Edward Scissorhands were helped by strong characters and good story telling; Avatar, at least in my opinion, had paper thin characters and mediocre story telling. I still enjoyed the film, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not going to stick with me in the same way that other movies have.
Perhaps the all just comes out of my own apathy but this all just has the odor of the guys having a slappy fight in the parking lot of a pub. In all seriousness when has Cameron not had an ego to mach his budget, and Canton just seems to be mirroring that stance with his own point of view. Neither are right or wrong and in the end I still don’t care.
You know I have to give the man props on his opening remarks. I would like to see more people calling out Cameron for his bullshit, but then again hasn’t the guy always been a bit of prick. I think my problem with the letter is that the guy turns it into combative marketing for his own project. I don’t really want to play the fan-boy card here so I won’t even try to defend Cameron, but then again Canton turns around his argument and asks us to look at him and his product and revile in how glories it is. I can’t help but read this at this point and not think it’s designed to call out James Cameron and ask him to own up to what spews out of his mouth and at the same time sell Piranha 3D. And it’s that last bit that bugs me just as much as Cameron running his mouth off.
At least he made the movie with THE BEST 3D EVER not called Coraline.
I want to like Aja, but Piranha 3D sucked and Cameron was right on the money and only being honest. And he didn’t really trash it to the degree that Canton’s letter would make you think he did. In fact, Canton’s is an over-reaction that’s making the situation worse for himself.
I am a big fan of “High Tension” and I really enjoyed “Piranha 3D.” However, I can’t say I liked Aja’s “The Hills Have Eyes” remake and I never heard anything good about “Mirrors.”
Also, I look at Canton’s letter as a way of keeping people not unlike ourselves discussing “Piranha” via calling out a very polarizing/very opinionated filmmaker such as Cameron.
I want to like Aja, but Piranha 3D sucked and Cameron was right on the money and only being honest. And he didn’t really trash it to the degree that Canton’s letter would make you think he did. In fact, Canton’s is an over-reaction that’s making the situation worse for himself.
Gotta throw a little cold water on you guys here. Talent knows talent and the fact that Cameron is arguably the most successful filmmaker in history is no accident. I think he’s right about Hurt Locker. I loved the movie, and thinking back to the way the film was visually crafted, the central element of tension that makes the movie so successfully visceral is the spacial relationship between the film’s characters and the treacherous explosive devices, creating a palpable feeling of danger. 3D would have been a brilliant compliment to the aesthetic of the film because it would do everything to accentuate that spacial relationship by placing the audience into that space. There are a lot of haters in the film industry and I can understand a filmmaker’s knee-jerk reaction to criticism when the work that they do is so incredibly difficult to accomplish, but I also think there is plenty of room for constructive criticism and rather than jumping into the fray of haters, it might behoove some folks to listen to some of the thoughts of someone who is obviously a master of his craft, because there may be a bit of brilliance that would serve to elevate your own work. I have not seen Pirahna 3D either, but I’m sure it lives up to what is promised by the promotional campaign and there’s certainly room in the industry for work of this kind. I don’t think there’s ever a single perspective that can be said to be definitively right or wrong, but if someone as obviously smart and talented as James Cameron were to offer his criticism of my work, you can bet he’d have my full attention and appreciation for his input. I think less talking and more listening might be in the best interest of MANY of today’s filmmakers and their audiences. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of work in the industry that could be drastically improved and rather than going after people for being outspoken on this subject, I suggest we attempt an honest, ego free conversation about what could be done to elevate the art form we all love to what it could be instead of settling for what we’re getting, when most of us know that it could be so much better in a lot of ways.
Gotta throw a little cold water on you guys here. Talent knows talent and the fact that Cameron is arguably the most successful filmmaker in history is no accident. I think he’s right about Hurt Locker. I loved the movie, and thinking back to the way the film was visually crafted, the central element of tension that makes the movie so successfully visceral is the spacial relationship between the film’s characters and the treacherous explosive devices, creating a palpable feeling of danger. 3D would have been a brilliant compliment to the aesthetic of the film because it would do everything to accentuate that spacial relationship by placing the audience into that space. There are a lot of haters in the film industry and I can understand a filmmaker’s knee-jerk reaction to criticism when the work that they do is so incredibly difficult to accomplish, but I also think there is plenty of room for constructive criticism and rather than jumping into the fray of haters, it might behoove some folks to listen to some of the thoughts of someone who is obviously a master of his craft, because there may be a bit of brilliance that would serve to elevate your own work. I have not seen Pirahna 3D either, but I’m sure it lives up to what is promised by the promotional campaign and there’s certainly room in the industry for work of this kind. I don’t think there’s ever a single perspective that can be said to be definitively right or wrong, but if someone as obviously smart and talented as James Cameron were to offer his criticism of my work, you can bet he’d have my full attention and appreciation for his input. I think less talking and more listening might be in the best interest of MANY of today’s filmmakers and their audiences. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of work in the industry that could be drastically improved and rather than going after people for being outspoken on this subject, I suggest we attempt an honest, ego free conversation about what could be done to elevate the art form we all love to what it could be instead of settling for what we’re getting, when most of us know that it could be so much better in a lot of ways.
I watched both of these movies, in 2D mind you. Half way through Avatar I just wanted it to be over. After watching Piranha I wanted to watch it again, but in 3D.
I haven’t seen Piranha 3D, but it seems to me that the people behind this movie are aware of something Cameron is unwilling to admit: 3Ds NOTHING MORE THAN A GIMMICK! It’s a cheesy albeit sometimes enjoyable ploy to sell more tickets. The makers behind Piranha don’t seem as willing to insult the audience’s intelligence by pretending we don’t know this. Meanwhile Cameron remains in full on George Lucas mode. Like the Star Wars prequels were really the work of a passionate story teller, rather than feature length advertisements for ILM’s special effects. Cameron is a salesman for his new 3D cameras. His argument for artistic 3D is total bull. I don’t care how close the screen images come to touching my nose, a good story is and always will remain what “immerses” audiences into movies!
I agree with all of your sentiments about Cameron’s merits as a filmmaker.
That said, good luck having an “ego-free conversation” with most anyone in Hollywood.
What just because the man sinks multiple years and un-calculated amounts of money into the development of a camera system, you think he parades the technology around trying to get a strong return investment…
I don’t think anyone is questioning Cameron’s filmmaking abilities. This is about his attitude. Like he is the only one that makes good movies and everyone else doesn’t know what they are doing.
And I don’t think THE HURT LOCKER would have been better in 3D by any means. It had like what? ONE cool explosion. That whole movie was mainly talk. 3D not needed. 3D is just a gimmick. It has been for the past 50 years. And it doesn’t matter how much Cameron insists on trying to make it the standard. It never will be.
The 3D in Piranha was awful, the post conversion is never good, and really Piranha itself had some epically lazy storytelling happening. I’ve never seen a movie that tried so hard to be so self aware of what a B movie it was and was so completely dull. Even in 2D the gore was sub-par, it was miles away from the quality of High Tension.
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he wasnt ragging on the movie just the s-hitty fucking 3D in it…these guys are a-ssholes !..get better 3D next time you f-ucktards ….Cameron has every right to say what he thinks about other peoples movies and if they have s-hitty 3D he will call them on it….the world is too PC and everybody gets upset… wah wah he called my s-hitty movie s-hit wah wah …f-ucking babies!
AVATAR was fun to LOOK AT, not fun to watch. Cameron’s movie was basically a compliation of every other love story with a wilderness setting (Dances w wolves ; pocahontas, ferngully lol my fav)
Look at Camerons big movies within the last what 10-15 years? AVATAR, TITANIC? Sure the look of AVATAR WAS NEW but the story was hardly. The TITANIC was a rehased tragedy with a lame romantic plot.
In all Cameron has benefitted from huge budgets that could by a small country. Had movies PIRHANA 3D had 1/2 the budget as those other two who knows what may have come from it. I think its petty for Cameron to attack a movie in which he has no competition with. Why not attack (ot thank) Journey to the center of the earth. That movie made tons and spawned the 3-d craze. maybe that director should criticize Cameron for exploiting 3-d and making a technology too expensive to ever be used!!
screw you Pompous Hollywood jerks!!
Avatar was not much deeper than P3D story wise, if they had shown more of Neytiri’s boobs I’d have been even happier! At least you get some nice ones in Piranha lol
I liked Avatar too, but it was like watching Dances With Wolves all over again, same basic plot, different charaters same story for the most part, just cooler graphics. So yeah not such an original movie. And your peers agreed at the Academy Awards and gave most of them to The Hurt Lock directed I believe by your estranged ex-wife. HAHA! Who are you to criticize anyone.
I haven’t seen this movie and probably won’t any time soon. Having said that, Canton is absolutely right.
Way to steal this from Joblo.com and not even give them a credit. lame
I’m almost certain Canton’s letter was circulated to several film/entertainment sites of which both Joblo and ourselves happen to have been a part of. As such, much like a press release, no one site has authority over the letter and a citation is not required.
Because we always appreciate other sites giving us credit when using our material, we go to great lengths to make sure that we properly cite sources ourselves.
Thanks for reading!
Is Cameron arrogant? Yes. Should he avoid criticism and stick to making films? Yes. That being said Mark Canton response is classic BS. Cameron complaints had nothing to do with “genre” or size. It had to do with a franchise on ot’s last leg using 3D as a crutch. This statement is entirely accurate regardless of the fact that it may or may not apply to Piranha 3D. That should have been the focus of Mark’s response.