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James Cameron calls Amy Poehler’s Golden Globes joke “ignorant dig”
It could be said that over the years James Cameron has been judged daily by the public.
The director of the movies – Alien, Terminator, Avatar and Titanic – has always been very open about his disagreements with detractors, even if it has been a long time since the initial confrontation.
He didn’t mince words when replying to Amy Poehler’s joke at the 2013 Golden Globes, where the actress compared Kathryn Bigelow’s three-year marriage to James Cameron to the torture scenes of Zero Dark Thirty.
Nearly ten years later, he told The New York Times that “Amy Poehler’s comment was a stupid little stab, at an event which should be a celebration of cinema and filmmakers, not a roast”. “I’m quite thick-skinned, and I like to be the target of a good-natured joke, but that one was over the line.”
James Cameron says Matt Damon didn’t get Avatar lead offer
James Cameron is not just letting the established Hollywood myths to be without dispute especially when it comes to Avatar. Listening to Matt Damon’s repetitive statement of him declining the role of Jake Sully in the 2009 Avatar blockbuster, Cameron just simply denied it.
“There was never an offer made to him,” the filmmaker said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published December 18. “I don’t even remember if I sent him the script. I think I didn’t?”
According to Cameron, 71, he does remember a phone call with Damon concerning “working together in a general sense,” but he never went beyond that: “But he was never offered the part. It was not a matter of a deal. We never talked about the character. We never reached that stage.”
James Cameron Disagrees with Matt Damon’s Avatar Money Story
James Cameron is not only challenging the casting story of Matt Damon in Avatar but is also denying the huge payday rumor that has been associated with it.
Damon has shown the willingness that if he took the main role of Jake Sully, he would be given 10 percent of the total box office earnings of Avatar. Cameron says it was not that way.
“Now he has done is taken the phrase ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films,’ to mean ‘I get a living without working,’” Cameron explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that.”
It is in line with Cameron’s personality of at times being an intense, maybe even a demanding director, to be so open about these things. When talking about the filming of Titanic, actress Kate Winslet said to The New York Times, “There were moments when he would yell, and there were moments that were difficult for people.”
But of course, Winslet is always willing to acknowledge that Cameron nowadays is “a different Jim,” yet there are still quite a few hot takes the director has left behind. Further on, there is more.
No Wonder in Wonder Woman
James Cameron criticized the praised reaction to Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder Woman movie, starring Gal Gadot, on the very same year.
“The Hollywood self-praising back-patting over Wonder Woman has been so totally wrong,” he expressed to The Guardian. “She’s an icon of the objectification, and this is just the same old thing that the male Hollywood does. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the movie but, for me, it is a step backward.”
He then contrasted the superhero to his legendary Terminator character, saying, “Sarah Connor was not a fashion icon. She was powerful, she was emotionally broken, she was an awful mother, and she gained the audience’s respect by sheer determination. And for me, the advantage of characters like Sarah is so evident. After all, half of the audience is female!”
Patty Jenkins responded to the comment by James Cameron, calling it in a message posted on social media “unsurprising because, although he is a great director, he is not a woman.”
An Icy Response to Jack Dawson’s Death in Titanic
Fans have long been upset with the portrayal of the Titanic story by James Cameron. One of their chief complaints is that the floating door could have easily held both Jack and Rose. As a result, why was it necessary for Jack to die?
Cameron said to Vanity Fair in 2017, “It’s a very simple answer, page 147 [of the script] says that Jack dies. Of course, it was an artistic decision. The door was just big enough for her, not big enough for him.”
He further said, “If he had stayed alive the film would have lost its meaning. The main theme of the film is about death and separation; hence, Jack had to die. At the end of the day, whether it was a smoke stack that fell on him or whatever, he was destined to go down. It’s called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons.”
On Being Overbearing
In 2024, Roland Emmerich, the German director, was a critic of James Cameron’s style when he said that Cameron was very dominating. Emmerich revealed that he was once linked to a remake of the 1966 film, Fantastic Voyage by James Cameron, which, according to him, Cameron was overbearing.
James Cameron’s reply was he didn’t reject such an idea.
The Aliens director, told The Hollywood Reporter, “I am overbearing, damn right”. “When it is my project that I have helped write, I may have an idea about it, I may actually have a view,” he added.
He didn’t just admit the charge, he also didn’t accept Emmerich’s narrative of the story.
“I really don’t even remember discussing Fantastic with Roland Emmerich,” Cameron went on. “I definitely remember the other directors that we worked with for such a long time trying to develop that project. If I did talk to Roland, it would have only been for two minutes. I have a very good memory and I don’t recall that at all,”
The Absence of Force in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
When J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out in theaters in 2015, James Cameron set the comparison very high: the original six films of George Lucas.
“I have to say that I felt that George’s group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more a retrenchment to things you had seen before and characters you had seen before,” he said about the blockbuster which, at the time, was the third highest-grossing film ever, only behind Cameron’s own Avatar and Titanic. “It made a couple of baby steps forward with some new characters. So, for me, the jury is still out. I want to see where they go with it.
Avatar’s Lengthy Rollout
James Cameron’s epic journey into the world of Avatar is one of the longest in the modern day of film production, as the fifth and final installment will not be released until 2031. And the journey began 22 years earlier, in 2009, when the original film was released.
With such a long journey ahead, one individual on Reddit expressed concern that “it is such a waste of talent to see James Cameron dedicate 35+ years to this franchise.”
To no one’s surprise, Cameron disagrees. “In terms of artistic fulfillment, I’m extremely satisfied,” he said to The Hollywood Reporter in December 2025, referring to his journey and the way he chooses to create the world of Avatar. “When they, the critics, become filmmakers themselves, they can make those types of choices for themselves. Or they can simply stay the hell out of it. “This decision is mine; it’s not yours,” he added. “It’s no different than saying, ‘I wish she wasn’t married to the same guy for so long.’ It’s not your place.”
Cameron and Poehler Fight
During the Golden Globes in 2013, Amy Poehler made a joke on stage about Kathryn Bigelow’s three years of marriage to James Cameron being like the torture shown in Bigelow’s film, Zero Dark Thirty.
In 2025, Cameron refuted her comments, referring to them as an ‘ignorant jab’ in an interview with The New York Times, and remarked that it was a ceremony to praise films and filmmakers rather than an opportunity to make humorous remarks. Cameron said that he has ‘thick skin’ about being the recipient of a well-intentioned joke, but that particular comment crossed the line.
Setting the Avatar Record Straight
James Cameron’s response was a firm “no way,” as he contradicted Matt Damon’s assertion that he had turned down the role of Jake Sully in “Avatar.”
When asked about Damon’s comments by The Hollywood Reporter in December 2025, Cameron stated, “It wasn’t like we had made any kind of offer.” He added, “I don’t specifically recall sending Damon a copy of the script. I’m not even sure I did.” Cameron went on to indicate that there had never been any negotiations between himself and Damon regarding the character. Cameron further indicated that it was strictly due to an issue of Damon’s schedule at that time.
In reference to Damon’s remarks on the percentage of box office revenue he would have received had he agreed to the role, Cameron simply responded, “If he needed to get 10% of the profits before agreeing to do the role, then it’s safe to say he wouldn’t have done it.”
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