Book Review: James Cameron — A Retrospective

Publisher: Palazzo Editions

Release Date: November 20, 2022

James Cameron has been called the most successful filmmaker of all time (although it really depends on how one is measuring their success). As the book’s marketing information announces:

“The question at the heart of the book, isn’t only how this came about, but what is it about Cameron that makes him such a universal storyteller? Cinema has had its godlike directors, lifting it up into new spaces, but he is their Zeus. The man who made the biggest film of all time, Titanic, then topped that by making the next biggest film of all time, Avatar.

Encapsulating not only the magnitude of James Cameron as a filmmaker but the minutiae too — the incredible stories of an artist whose commitment to the medium knows few bounds. The tales behind the films are as epic as the films themselves. The astonishing making of The Abyss, much of it shot submerged in a decommissioned nuclear plant, could fill a book on its own.”

“James Cameron: A Retrospective” is the first book of this series that I have read not to have been written by Tom Shone, but his approach is very similar to the Shone volumes. The author, Ian Nathan, is also responsible for the volumes in the “Iconic Filmmakers Series” (which includes volumes on Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, Guillermo del Toro, Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Clint Eastwood), and his approach to this series is honestly almost identical. This is actually his third entry of the “Retrospective” series as he was also responsible for “David Lynch—A Retrospective” and “Ridley Scott—A Retrospective.” It’s also worth noting that he is responsible for authoring “Terminator Vault: The Complete Story Behind the Making of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day” as this text focuses on two of Cameron’s most beloved movies.

Those who enjoy James Cameron’s work and found the books in Nathan’s “Iconic Filmmakers Series” worth their while will probably cherish this volume as well.