PIRANHA 3D Producer Responds to James Cameron's Comments

Just yesterday, we republished a bit of James Cameron's recent interview with Vanity Fair in which he basically called out Piranha 3D, referring to the film as "an example of what we should not be doing in 3D." Here's what he said, in case you missed the story:

You’ve got to remember: I worked on Piranha 2 for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever," he told them. "In fact, I would go even farther and say that... I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D. 

Today, Piranha 3D producer Mark Canton took issue with Cameron's comments and issued a long response to the director, ripping him a new one in the process. You can read the entire thing at Deadline Hollywood, but I'll quote some of the better parts here.

As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron's comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made Piranha 3D.  Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own.  It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one.  His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric.

Jim, are you kidding or what? First of all, let’s start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of Piranha 2 and you were fired.  Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in the history of cinema than you. Martin Scorcese made Boxcar Bertha at the beginning of his career.  And Francis Ford Coppola made Dimentia 13 back in 1963.  And those are just a few examples of the  talented and successful filmmakers whose roots are in genre films.  Who are you to impugn any genre film or its creators?

He goes on to accuse Cameron of never actually watching Piranha 3D, and essentially defends his film with an argument akin to "it's a movie, so it's part of history." But the next part is my favorite:

On opening weekend, I was in a Los Angeles theatre with a number of today’s great film makers including  JJ Abrams, who actually had nothing short of the fabulous, fun 3D experience that the movie provides. I am fortunate enough to have worked on, and continue to work on, evolutionary movies in all formats from just simple good story telling, which still matters most of all, to CG movies to tent-pole size 3D movies, and genre 3D movies like Piranha 3D.  What it comes down to, Jim, is -  that like most things in life - size doesn’t really matter.  Not everyone has the advantage of having endless amounts of money to play in their sandbox and to take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film…like you do. Why can’t you just count your blessings?

The rest of the statement is basically a pissing contest naming off filmmakers they both have worked with, and to top it all off, Canton starts verbally abusing the 3D in Avatar.

I'm not going to sit here and defend James Cameron. He's historically known as kind of a douche and making comments like that about another film probably won't make him a lot of friends in the industry, but the thing is, he doesn't need friends. He's got more money than God, and the two highest grossing films of all time under his belt (not adjusted for inflation, blah blah blah). He can pretty much do what he wants these days.

But Canton's comments seem like something from an internet comment board. I can't take this guy seriously when he starts claiming that the best part of Piranha 3D is its originality. IT'S A REMAKE, bro. If you're going to attack Cameron, do it in a way that doesn't wreak of desperation. "Size doesn't matter"? Come on.

What do you guys think? Was Cameron justified in his comments, or was Canton spot-on with his rebuttal?