James Cameron was the butt of one of Amy Poehler‘s most ruthless Golden Globes jokes, one he’s now calling an “ignorant dig” at his expense. Speaking in a recent interview with The New York Times, the “Titanic” Oscar winner said Poehler took things “too far” when she poked fun at his marriage to Bigelow.
Poehler’s joke was made at the 2013 Golden Globes, where Kathryn Bigelow was a best director nominee thanks to “Zero Dark Thirty.” During her opening monologue with co-host Tina Fey, Poehler nodded to the controversy around the film’s depiction of torture by quipping: “When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.” The audience was visibly shocked by the joke, with Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” star Jessica Chastain jaw-dropped.
“Amy Poehler’s remark was an ignorant dig, at an event which is supposed to be a celebration of cinema and filmmakers, not a roast,” Cameron now told The Times. “I’m pretty thick-skinned, and happy to be the butt of a good-natured joke, but that went too far. The fact that people found it funny shows exactly what they think of me, even though they have no idea who I am or how I work.”
Cameron noted Hollywood pit the two directors against each other during the 2009-2010 awards season, as “Avatar” faced off against “The Hurt Locker” at various events, including the Oscars. Bigelow prevailed over Cameron to win the Oscar for best director, while “The Hurt Locker” also won best picture.
“I was the first one on my feet applauding,” Cameron noted about when Bigelow won the Oscar over for him. “Kathryn and I thought the whole meta-narrative around us was pretty funny. I was a little concerned that it would just take away from her credibility as a filmmaker. It started to turn into a conversation that wasn’t about her film, and that bothered both of us.”
Cameron and Bigelow were married from 1989 to 1991. Their romantic relationship extended to their professional careers, as Cameron developed and executive produced Bigelow’s 1991 action movie “Point Break” and co-wrote her 1995 thriller “Strange Days.” Cameron recently made headlines for telling The Hollywood Reporter that he deserved full screenwriting credit on “Point Break,” saying: “I flat out got stiffed by the Writers Guild on that. It was bullshit.”
“Point Break’s” credited writer W. Peter Iliff reacted in a statement to People: “Jim Cameron is my hero. I am perhaps his biggest fan, and so grateful for his fabulous work on ‘Point Break.’ There’s enough glory for everybody and it’s great that Jim should be recognized for his work that made ‘Point Break’ the movie that it became. It’s funny, the film just seems to endure as the years go by, but he’s the king and I can’t wait to see his new movie. We’ve all loved everything he has ever done.”
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Head over to The New York Times’ website to read Cameron’s profile in its entirety.
From Variety US