James Cameron Defends Dialogue in His Movies Against ‘Cringe’ Complaints

James Cameron doesn’t want to hear your complaints about his dialogue.

Cameron has directed a number of the highest-grossing movies of all time, including 1997’s Titanic, 2009’s Avatar, and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water.

Speaking to Empire Magazine about the 40th anniversary of The Terminator, which was released in 1984, Cameron addressed how he views the movie in 2024.

What did James Cameron say about the dialogue in his movies?

“I don’t think of it as some Holy Grail, that’s for sure,” he said. “I look at it now and there are parts of it that are pretty cringe-worthy, and parts of it that are like, ‘Yeah, we did pretty well for the resources we had available.’”

Cameron clarified that any moments he views as ‘cringeworthy’ are related to the film’s production value.

Regarding the dialogue in the movie, Cameron said, “I don’t cringe on any of the dialogue, but I have a lower cringe factor than, apparently, a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write.”

He continued, “You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films — then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness.”

Avatar, Avatar: The Way of the Water, and Titanic are three of the highest-grossing films of all time, with the other one being 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

Cameron is also known for directing 1986’s Aliens, 1989’s The Abyss, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and 1994’s True Lies. He’s currently working on the third film in the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is expected to be released in 2025. He has at least two more Avatar movies planned as well, while it was also recently announced that he intends to make a Last Train from Hiroshima film.

The Terminator is currently streaming on AMC. It is also available to rent or purchase on digital outlets such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and more.