NEED TO KNOW
James Cameron says his first job on a major film set came with an interesting task: that he distribute cocaine to the crew.
Cameron recalled the early days of his career in an interview on In Depth With Graham Bensinger, saying that he got a job as a production designer for the 1980 sci-fi film Battle Beyond the Stars after the previous production designer was fired.
On his first day on the job, the filmmaker says the production manager went over his responsibilities. “He says, ‘Okay, here’s your petty cash voucher,'” Cameron remembered. “And here’s this and here’s that, and here’s your swing shift crew list. Here’s your day shift crew list. Okay, here’s your black beauties. Here’s your coke.’ And he’s just putting all this stuff out on the table.”
Cameron continued: “I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, what do I do with this stuff?'” he remembered. “I mean, I didn’t take drugs. You know, for me, coffee was plenty.”
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“He said, ‘Well, you got to give it out to the crew,'” Cameron said. “I’m like, so I just became a dealer, I guess? You know, but that was just how things were done in that super low-budget world. You know, ‘will work for coke,’ basically. And that was pretty nuts.”
Cameron has since directed a number of blockbuster films, including Titanic, The Terminator, Aliens, Avatar and The Abyss.
Cameron recently became the first and only director to have four billion-dollar films. Along with Titanic, his three Avatar films each grossed over $1 billion, with 2009’s Avatar and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water each surpassing over $2 billion.
