When you have fans like this, then you can make 3D films too.
Is 3D filmmaking only meant to for big sprawling epics, or can we still let the genre film such as ‘Pirana 3D’ scare us with its dimensions too? Well, according to James Cameron genre films only cheapen the experience and have no place in the 21st century. I think someone needs to take a chill pill and allow the audiences decide what they are in the mood for and vote with the box-office.
In fact, James Cameron told vanity fair “That is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D.”
He may be right, but his statements have enraged the Piranha 3D filmmakers. The result has been a rebuttal by producer Mark Canton who swiftly fired back with his ownattack on Cameron and his “mean-spirited and flawed analysis.”
Here are the original comments made by James Cameron to Vanity Fair:
“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.”
Doesn’t Canton realize that one of his lenses should be red?!
And here is what Canton fired back in response:
“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…”
“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 [sic] made Boxcar Bertha at the beginning of his career. And Francis Ford Coppola made Dimentia 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?…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…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.”
This poster could not be more right!
Woof! That’s some bite Canton has! And I agree with several of his points. Avatar was gorgeous, but let’s face it…it was merely ‘Dances with Wolves’ meets ‘Ferngully: The Last Rainforest’ with a touch of ‘Aliens’ (the troopers). That being said I think Cameron is really blasting the use of converted 3D over Real 3D. Although I’m not convinced the audience cares as much as him.
What’s interesting is that the Weinstein Company officially sent this sparring match out. I guess Canton and the Weinstein Bros know they’ll never work with Cameron, so they figured they would sling their own mud.
I do think it has something to do with Canton’s statement telling Cameron, and the readers, to watch Piranha 3D and make up their own mind about whether the 3D was good/enjoyable.
Does Cameron make a good argument, or do you side with Canton. Should 3D only be for ‘real 3d’ epics or is there room for silly genre films that have been converted?
Either way you should check out WatchMojo.com’s exclusive look at the career of James Cameron…from his own humble roots working on Pirana II all the way to Avatar:
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