Revisiting James Cameron’s 'The Abyss'

During the 2009 Oscar campaign, James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino took part in a roundtable discussion during which the latter pledged to retire from filmmaking when he turned 60. Tarantino, 46 at the time, has often likened filmmakers to athletes who lose their prowess as they age, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “I don’t want that bad, out-of-touch comedy in my filmography, the movie that makes people think, ‘Oh man, he still thinks it’s 20 years ago.’” Most of the panel—including Kathryn Bigelow, Peter Jackson, Jason Reitman, and Lee Daniels—just laughed at his pronouncement, but James Cameron, age 55, was the only one with a rejoinder: “I took my hiatus already, because I figured I can still be directing when I’m 80, but I can’t be doing the deep-ocean expedition stuff.”