James Cameron finally got his
big break in 1981 when he got his first shot at directing a film entitled
Piranha II: The Spawning. Italian producer Assonitis, was determined to produce
a sequel to the original Piranha film. In an effort to save money and have
complete control over the film's direction, the inexperienced Cameron was
chosen. However, Assonitis and Cameron just ended up butting heads by the time
the movie's release came around.
The movie was to be produced on Jamaica but when Cameron arrived at the studio,
he discovered that his crew
was comprised primarily of Italians who spoke no English and that the project
was under financed.
James Cameron was originally hired as the special effects director for this
film and took over the direction when the original director left. Due to budget limitations the crew was composed essentially by
Italians, none of whom spoke English. Some however did have prior experience on
horror/fantasy movies so they were, to some extent, able to satisfy Cameron's
requirements.
After the first week of shooting, the set harmony was disturbed by some
discussions about the work between the director and the producers (the executive
producer, Ovidio G. Assonitis, asked to verify the day-to-day activities,
arguing most of Cameron's choices), so whilst Cameron was just responsible for
the shooting, most of the decisions are under Assonitis' authority. On the T2
special edition, Cameron speaks briefly about his time on this film. He says he
worked for two weeks on PIRANHA 2 before being fired by Ovidio Assonitis (Oliver
Hellman) who finished the film. Hellman did this a lot on his productions,
firing the original director and taking over himself. James Cameron: "I was
fired after three weeks as the producer of the film really wanted to be a
director - that's why it starts off with intense scenes and ends up with topless
women running around on a yacht". According to Dreaming Aloud, a biography
of James Cameron by Christopher Heard, Cameron was not allowed to see his
footage and was not involved in editing. He broke into the
editing room in Rome and cut his own version while the film's producers were at
Cannes, but was caught and Assonitis re-cut it again.
James Cameron: I'm ambivalent about it. Technically, I have a credit as the director on that film. However, I was replaced after two-and-a-half weeks by the Italian producer. He just fired me and took over, which is what he wanted to do when he hired me. It wasn't until much later that I even figured out what had happened. It was like, "Oh, man, I thought I was doing a good job." But when I saw what they were cutting together, it was horrible. And then the producer wouldn't take my name off the picture because [contractually] they couldn't deliver it with an Italian name. So they left me on, no matter what I did. I had no legal power to influence him from Pomona, California, where I was sleeping on a friend's couch. I didn't even know an attorney. In actual fact, I did some directing on the film, but I don't feel it was my first movie. So I don't think I should have to take the lumps. I used it as a credit when it did me some good, which was to get Terminator. Subsequently, I dropped it. I think that makes sense
Most of the underwater scenes were filmed off Grand Cayman Island, and the stand-in for the Club Elysium is the Mallard Beach Hyatt. Interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage in Rome
The great thing about the
experience was that Cameron, under duress, in a feverish comatose stage, had a
nightmare about a robot hit man sent from the future to kill him... a.k.a.
Terminator - his first brainchild and real directorial debut.