Why James Cameron Does Not Want To Direct A ‘Star Wars’ Or Superhero Film

James Cameron has joined the growing legion of legendary filmmakers that don’t want anything to do with the superhero genre.

But James Cameron didn’t just dismiss the entire superhero genre, he also insisted that he doesn’t want anything to do with the evolution of the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars‘ recent success with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which grossed over $1 billion despite the fact that none of its main characters had ever appeared in the universe before, means that a number of additional spin-offs are destined to be released over the next decade.

But James Cameron made it very clear to The Daily Beast that he won’t be part of any future Star Wars film or any installment to the Marvel, DC, or X-Men franchise. Not just because of the fact that he’s currently working very hard on his Avatar sequels, but also because he just isn’t interested.

“I’m not the slightest bit interested in laboring in someone else’s house.”

James Cameron, who as the director of Aliens, The Terminator, Avatar, and Titanic knows a thing or two about directing blockbuster cinema, is far from the first filmmaker to make such a comment regarding the superhero genre. In fact, just last month, Sir Ridley Scott, the director of Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator, told Digital Spy that superhero films just weren’t his “kind of thing.”

Sir Ridley Scott confessed that he had been approached several times to make a superhero film, but didn’t really see the point in doing one as he believes Blade Runner is similar to a comic strip, while he also criticized the style and substance of the superhero film.

“Superhero movies are not my kind of thing – that’s why I’ve never really done one. [I’ve been asked] several times, but I can’t believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero. I’ve done that kind of movie — Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it, it’s a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I’d have a fucking good story, as opposed to no story!”

One of the first filmmakers of James Cameron and Sir Ridley Scott’s ilk to dismiss the superhero film genre was Steven Spielberg. The Jaws, Schindler’s List, and Jurassic Park director told the Associated Press, via the Hollywood Reporter, all the way back in 2015 that he believed the superhero film would eventually die. Something that currently doesn’t look like happening any time soon.

“We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns.”

But maybe the most scathing attack of the superhero genre came from none other than Mel Gibson.

That’s because around the release of Hacksaw Ridge, the Australian director took aim at the genre when talking to Deadline, and there was one film in particular that received additional scorn.

“I look at them and scratch my head. I’m really baffled by it. I think there’s a lot of waste but maybe if I did one of those things with the green screens I’d find out different. I don’t know. Maybe they do cost that much. I don’t know. It seems to me that you could do it for less. If you’re spending outrageous amounts of money, $180 million or more, I don’t know how you make it back after the taxman gets you, and after you give half to the exhibitors…. What did they spend on ‘Batman V Superman‘ that they’re admitting to? And it’s a piece of sh**.”

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]