James Cameron Thinks Directors Should Collaborate More

Director James Cameron has been plying his trade since the 1970s, so when he speaks about working in the film industry, it's from a place of experience. He's crafted enormous, sweeping cinematic narratives and smaller, more effects-based films — everything from the bloody b-movie mayhem of "Piranha" to the lofty heights of his "Avatar" series. After making some of cinema's most popular films of all time, if you were going to take anybody's advice on filmmaking, he's certainly not a bad source to turn to.

After all that time in the game, Cameron definitely knows what he likes and what he doesn't like as a director, as well as the ins and outs of the movie-making business. And he hasn't been shy about sharing those thoughts. Here's why he thinks directors could benefit from a little less independence and a little more from taking the advice — and friendship — of their peers.

In a conversation with fellow director Robert Rodriguez for Variety, James Cameron said that directors ought not to isolate themselves away from their fellows. "Directors are too much like lone wolves," Cameron explained. "We should be like college pals that are film geeks. Our pal Guillermo [del Toro] says that, in Mexico, when somebody makes a film, all the other filmmakers gather around like a baby was being born. They all get involved in the process. And I think that's the way it should be."

This wish for communal filmmaking is interesting coming from someone with such a singular vision as Cameron, but it seems he's not stingy with the universes he's created. After all, other people have come in to direct entries in the "Terminator" franchise, and Cameron has also recently stated that he wouldn't mind someone else taking over the "Avatar" franchise under certain circumstances. He and Rodriguez, in particular, have a long history of collaboration. Cameron, for instance, ultimately ended up producing the Rodriguez-helmed film "Alita: Battle Angel." The twosome have also seen early cuts of each other's movies, per Variety. That's the sort of friendship that anyone would want, let alone one of the most powerful directors in the world.