“He softened over time.”

Sigourney Weaver is grateful to James Cameron: in Avatar: Fire and Ash he even plays via performance capture the teenage Na’vi named Leftbut their creative bond dates back forty years, when James directed Aliens: Last Show (1986), the second chapter of the saga. Precisely by virtue of this decades-long knowledge, Sigourney confirmed to the New York Times what has been said about Cameron in more than one case in the past: strict and sometimes even brutal on set. True at the time, much less so now, but in any case it was enough for her to set him straight.
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James Cameron was scolded by Sigourney Weaver on the set of Aliens: The Endgame

In the past we have read about directors of photography that they felt scolded by James Cameronwith the provocative: “But do you know how to use the light meter?” (the instrument for measuring light, in simple terms). Not to insist too much on the infamous processing of The Abyss (1989), of which neither Ed Harris nor Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio they want to talk, always leaving the impression that it is better to forget… if that is ever possible. James admitted as much to the Times: “It’s not like I spent my time yelling. Once in a while. Everyone has a bad day. If you’re not doing your job, get the fuck out.” On the set of Aliens: Last Show but he found himself in front of a person who was not intimidated: Sigourney Weaver aka Ripley! Weaver continues to love the director, but there was a time when his anger fell on ateenage actress which could not correctly interpret a sequence:

I stood in front of him and said: “You know, when you yell at an actor, you yell at all of usyou have to understand that he was doing a very difficult thing. Maybe shoot something else while she learns to do the scene the way you want it.” […] He’s a good person, I really believe he is now softened. […] [Dopo le riprese, a cena, era simpatico] It had never been like this on set. It made you laugh a lotsardonic. I realized that that man couldn’t come out while we were making Alienswere very tough shoots, especially for him. Let’s put it this way: I’m glad I didn’t shoot The Abyss with him!