James Cameron Once Came Through In A Big Way To Rescue Guillermo Del Toro's Father

Throughout his nearly 44-year career in film, director James Cameron has made a name for himself as one of the most prolific storytellers in the entire industry — crafting multimillion-dollar blockbusters seemingly at will. Cameron's career breakthrough came with the 1984 film "The Terminator" (which was infamously inspired by one of Cameron's vivid dreams) and over the years he's gone on to direct a wide variety of similarly-successful films including "Titanic," Aliens," and "Avatar."

On top of the fact that Cameron has made a career out of crafting incredible and entertaining stories for the big screen, there are also times when his own personal life seems like something out of a movie. One great example of this is Cameron's 2012 expedition aboard the "Deepsea Challenger," in which he became the first human being to make a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (via NPR).

Although that particular feat certainly required a fair amount of courage (and earned him a spot in the history books to boot), there was one other instance where James Cameron found himself in a situation hardly ever seen outside of the movies — when he had to rescue the father of fellow director Guillermo del Toro from kidnappers.

The story itself takes us back to 1997, in which Guillermo Del Toro was struggling financially after pouring his funds into the science fiction film "Mimic" (via Austin Chronicle). While del Toro was hard at work on the movie in Hollywood, tragedy struck back in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico when his father, Federico del Toro, was kidnapped and held for ransom (via UPROXX).

The kidnappers proceeded to ask the up-and-coming director (alongside his two brothers) to pay $1 million for his father's safe return — a price which was completely impossible for del Toro given his financial commitment to "Mimic." With Guillermo del Toro himself spearheading the process, the del Toro family set about negotiating with these kidnappers by employing three separate negotiators, though their work was ultimately fruitless without the ransom money.

Amidst the tumultuous production of "Mimic" and the frustrating negotiations with the kidnappers, del Toro explained his predicament to fellow director James Cameron — who immediately ushered him into a car, brought him to a bank, and withdrew $1 million in cash to pay the ransom. On top of that, Cameron also assisted del Toro in locating another negotiator, and after 72 days of imprisonment, Federico del Toro was finally returned to his family; due in large part to the heroic and selfless actions of James Cameron.

Although it might seem strange that James Cameron would spend $1 million on a whim to help out another director in a pinch, it's worth mentioning that he and Guillermo del Toro had been fast friends since the early 1990s.

"Jim and I have been best friends for the last couple of decades," del Toro admitted during an interview with Den of Geek in 2017. "We met in 1990 or 1991, and he has been one of my best friends throughout all of those years." On top of that, del Toro has also said that he and James Cameron often exchange notes about their respective films and asserted that Cameron had an influence on every single film he's directed — all except for "Mimic" as funny as that might seem (via The Daily Beast).

Considering the deep connection between these two directors, it's no wonder why Cameron was willing to help his dear friend so quickly, and it's undeniably admirable that he helped to save del Toro's father without asking for anything in return. In any case, there's no question that everybody should hope that their own friends are as selfless and heroic as James Cameron.