Master of the deep

James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario. As a teenager, 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired his own epics – using an old 16-millimetre camera. After the family moved to California, he dropped out of college to drive trucks. But Star Wars changed that and set him learning all about film-making. A job making models on Battle Beyond the Stars was followed by other low-budget jobs, including the cult film Escape from New York. A battle with the producers of Piranha II: The Spawning (he had to break into the editing suite at night to try to reconstruct the film) made Cameron realise he had to…