In the Beginning

Looking back, Cameron recalls that the miniature work was going well and the live-action set work too, but director Jimmy Murakami was having trouble figuring out how to combine the two elements. Cameron convinced him that the little-used technique of front projection was the solution and that he was the man for the job. The newcomer was knighted supervisor of process projection, "which pissed a lot of the other effects people off,” Cameron said in an early interview, a hint of the take-no-prisoners work ethic that still manages to ignite controversy on his sets today.

“Four weeks later they fired the art director and asked me if I wanted that position. It was a situation not unlike being in the trenches at Verdun in World War I; after the previous seven officers have been shot trying to leap the charge, they ask you if you want to be a lieutenant,” he said, summing up the gestalt of independent filmmaking for Fangoria magazine in 1985.

Though this poor man's “Star Wars” was certainly not "the most exciting mission in the universe” it was a project at which Cameron could excel with his experience as an illustrator and stag taste for science fiction. He left his mark in the design of things like the spaceship (a giant flying female torso), and 15 years later those with a taste for frothy, fantastic cheese are still enjoying it in the home market.

The intergalactic adventure stars Richard Thomas (“The Waltons") as the Luke Skywalker-like space hero and also features Darlanne Fleugel, George Peppard, Robert Vaughn and Sybil Danning. The credit list goes on to include more than its share of burgeoning talent, including screenwriter John Sayles, assistant production manager Gale Anne Hurd and composer James Horner.

Cameron's next project was as co-supervisor of visual effects on John Carpenter's 1981 film "Escape From New York." Though not a New World project, the enterprising Cameron managed to convince production designer Joe Alves and producer Debra Hill to use the studio's effects department as an outside contractor for the indie project, a futuristic actioner in which Manhattan serves as a maximum-security prison. Cameron's work on the film consisted mostly of supervising model making and process photography.

That project completed, Cameron plunged headlong into "Galaxy of Terror,” also released in '81, on which he designed the sets, miniatures and costumes and did second-unit direction. The plot – about astronauts who become prey to extraterrestrials while rescuing a marooned ship – quick cloned the 1979 hit "Alien” and no doubt gave the future director of “Aliens” (1986) food for thought. Cameron himself has characterized his "Galaxy” work as his most proficient for New World. "

Though on the fast track to directing for Corman, Cameron's first shot at the helm was for another independent. The association developed out of his tenure at New World, which made Joe Dante's “Piranha” in 1978. Corman sold the sequel rights to two Italian producers, who set about finding a director for this tale of killer fish that take to the air to terrorize a beachful of bikini-clad beauties.

The producers had seen Cameron in action on "Galaxy” during visits to the studio and were impressed enough to hire him to direct “Piranha II: The Spawning.”

In July 1986 Cameron recalled that pivotal event in his career for the Washington Post, explaining how he was directing a second-unit scene of a dismembered arm lying on the ground: "It's supposed to be covered with maggots ... and they've got it covered with this tub of mealworms. You can buy them in pet stores, they're feed for fish, fairly innocuous little creatures. They're pretty law-abiding, they don't do very much.... They're supposed to be writhing around but they just sat there.”

His solution was to run some hidden electrical wires to the slugs and deliver a few inspirational jolts. Just then, the two future "Piranha II" producers strolled onto the set to watch. Cameron called "Action!" – the cue for the technician who was hidden out of eye range to throw the juice. 'The worms start moving like crazy. I say: 'OK, that's good. Cut.' He pulls the plug and the worms stop. I turn around and these two producers are just gaping. I guess they figured out that if I could get a performance out of maggots, I should be OK with actors, so they offered me the film."

Turns out Cameron was better with worms than producers, though in this case the distinction between the two species must have blurred. It quickly became clear that one of the producers wanted to direct the film himself, hiring Cameron simply to fulfill a contractual obligation to Warner Bros., which stipulated a U.S. director and cast. Filming with an Italian-speaking crew was one of many obstacles facing the 25-year-old first-time director. But things really got ugly in post, which the producers said would take place in Italy and did not, thank you very much, require the director's presence.

Legend has it that Cameron flew to Italy at his own expense, and after unsuccessfully pleading his case he resorted to breaking into the editing room at night using a credit card, teaching himself how to operate the flatbed and dipping into the trim bins to try to restructure the film. In retrospect, the gesture seems both naive and heroic; judging from the finished result the film was already beyond repair.

This fractious first outing would have crushed a lesser spirit, but with the heart and intellect that remain a signature of his filmmaking style today, Cameron managed to disengage himself from his emotional turmoil long enough to strategize a bulletproof battle plan for escaping what must have felt frightfully like career crib death. Realizing that it might be tough getting a director-for-hire job based on this 1981 debut effort, Cameron came to the conclusion that he would need to write a great script and attach himself as director.

All things considered, the "Piranha II” debacle doesn't look quite so bad in hindsight. It was while lying in bed in his hotel room in Italy, sick with despair, that Cameron crystallized the vision for an idea that had been kicking around in his head for a little while: what would ultimately become "The Terminator.” Today, Cameron looks back on the experience with humor, noting, “It's the finest flying piranha film ever made!”