LOS ANGELES — Filmmaker James Cameron appeared on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show last night and gave a detailed interview about how he would’ve destroyed the Death Star had he been a part of the Battle of Yavin portrayed in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
“A flukey proton torpedo shot into an exhaust port is a terrible plan,” said the auteur behind Titanic, Avatar, and many other blockbusters on yesterday’s episode of Anderson Cooper 360°. “And people say ‘Oh, but that worked for the rebels,’ but it was a fictional movie. Force or not, it’s highly improbable that shot makes it in real life. I know five ways alone I could’ve blown it up if I were in Rogue Squadron.”
When pressed for examples, Cameron supplied several.
“You could send a large enough pulsar blast and you could short circuit the whole thing, send infantry down and try to breach the surface. Or I don’t know, maybe use one of your stolen Empire landing codes to access the cockpit and initiate some sort of self destruction. You could seduce a high ranking stormtrooper. There’s any number of ways, if you’re knowledgeable about the science and techniques. I spent a lot of time in space before we shot Aliens, so I have a bit of a background here.”
The filmmaker’s dedication to the science behind his films has long been part of his method.
“I remember when we were making True Lies,” said Arnold Schwarzenegger, a frequent collaborator of Cameron’s. “And one day I was asking him about how he wanted me to do one of the stunts with the Harrier Fighter Jet. He handed his bottled water to his assistant, got in the jet, flew up in the air, then executed the move perfectly, and then landed. He threw me the keys to the jet and said, ‘Do it like that.’ He is truly one of a kind.”
As of press time, Cameron had announced that he would be making an action film with Tom Cruise that would most likely kill one or both of them.
