James Cameron, 70, Throws Shade at Christopher Nolan’s WWII Movie: “It Dodged the Subject”

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James Cameron and Christopher Nolan each have a claim to the title of the greatest film director of all time, but now one has expressed his discontent with the other’s former project. Nolan most recently directed Oppenheimer, the 2023 WWII film that premiered to widespread acclaim, winning seven Oscars and grossing over $950 million globally. Cameron has been tapped to direct a WWII film of his own, currently titled Ghost of Hiroshima, which will explore a closer look at the effect the A-bombs had on Japan. During a recent interview with Deadline ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash to talk about his upcoming WWII movie, in addition to spilling more details on the film, Cameron also revealed his gripe with Oppenheimer, including his opinion that the film is a “moral cop out” that “dodged the subject”:

“It’s interesting what he stayed away from. Look, I love the filmmaking, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop out. Because it’s not like Oppenheimer didn’t know the effects. He’s got one brief scene in the film where we see — and I don’t like to criticize another filmmaker’s film – but there’s only one brief moment where he sees some charred bodies in the audience and then the film goes on to show how it deeply moved him. But I felt that it dodged the subject. I don’t know whether the studio or Chris felt that that was a third rail that they didn’t want to touch, but I want to go straight at the third rail. I’m just stupid that way.”

Cameron did make a point to praise the filmmaking ability of Nolan on display in Oppenheimer, and while this may seem like a pointed jab at the director, it’s likely nothing he wouldn’t say to his face that wouldn’t be resolved with a cordial conversation. Oppenheimer’s take on the damage inflicted by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is more subtle, and also portrayed through the trauma of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), and not the people of Japan. The film shows the inventor of the device carrying the weight of creating something that holds so much destructive power, and we even see how it affected his life well beyond its detonation. It sounds like Cameron’s vision for Ghost of Hiroshima will take a much more head-on approach to the subject.