Roland Emmerich Calls James Cameron “Very Overbearing,” Explains Why He Exited ‘Fantastic Voyage’

It’s safe to say that Roland Emmerich and James Cameron aren’t likely to collaborate anytime soon.

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During a conversation between filmmakers Emmerich and Antoine Fuqua at San Diego Comic-Con, director Louis Leterrier appeared via video to ask Emmerich about the long-gestating remake of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage that Cameron has been trying to get off the ground. Leterrier mentioned that he would still love to get to direct the film and asked Emmerich about his experience years ago with the project.

“James Cameron is very overbearing, and so I, at one point, just gave up,” Emmerich replied during Collider’s Directors on Directing event, leading to laughter from the audience. “Because it’s like, ‘Is it your movie or my movie?'”

The Independence Day filmmaker continued, “We were in very beginning stages. Because I said, ‘Gosh, why is he so overbearing?’ I have to say, I do my stuff, and when I can’t do my stuff, I’m totally not interested. As simple as that. So when somebody else wants to say something to me and is more powerful than me, I drop out.”

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Emmerich, whose other credits include The Day After Tomorrow and the new Peacock series Those About to Die , said in a 2007 interview that he dropped out of helming Fantastic Voyage because he was unhappy with the script. A number of directors have since eyed the project , including Paul Greengrass, Shawn Levy and Guillermo del Toro.

The 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage starred Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch. It focused on a submarine crew getting shrunk down to enter the body of a scientist who suffered a brain injury.

During an April event at Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, Cameron spoke about the status of his Fantastic Voyage remake. He noted that, while the film had been in development for quite some time, he still hoped to move forward with it soon.

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