James Cameron Rejected ‘Avatar’ Studio Notes: “I Made ‘Titanic’”

James Cameron had the perfect clap back when hit with notes he didn’t want to receive while working on his smash film, Avatar. The director and writer — who is behind box office hits like The Terminator, Titanic and Aliens — spoke to The New York Times ahead of the release of his new Avatar film, and shared a very Cameron anecdote.

While working on Avatar, the 2009 sci-fi epic about the colonization of a moon in the 22nd century, Cameron was battling 20th Century Fox as the studio lobbied for key changes to his film. The writer pushed back with receipts, citing the success of his past work, Titanic, which raked in over $2 billion at the box office.

When asked by the Times if he fought to keep certain parts of Avatar, Cameron replied, “I think I felt, at the time, that we clashed over certain things,” before adding, “For example, the studio felt that the film should be shorter and that there was too much flying around on the ikran — what the humans call the banshees.”

He continued, “Well, it turns out that’s what the audience loved the most, in terms of our exit polling and data gathering. And that’s a place where I just drew a line in the sand and said, ‘You know what? I made Titanic. This building that we’re meeting in right now, this new half-billion dollar complex on your lot? Titanic paid for that, so I get to do this.’ And afterward, they thanked me.”

Cameron insisted that he was acting in the studio’s best interests by reminding them of his Titanic success, telling the Times, “I feel that my job is to protect their investment, often against their own judgment. But as long as I protect their investment, all is forgiven.”

The director has been embarking on a press tour ahead of Avatar 2, which is set for a December release, and dropping plenty of juicy quotes along the way. Months before sharing his peculiar editing strategy, Cameron snapped at critics complaining his new Avatar movie is too long, telling them to “get up and go pee.”