©Courtesy of National Geographic
James Cameron has shared that production on his long-in-development movie, Last Train From Hiroshima, has once again stalled. The Oscar-winning director shared the news during a recent appearance on The Town podcast with Matthew Belloni.
This update follows Cameron optioned the film rights to author Charles Pellegrino’s 2010 book of the same name. The movie will chronicle the true story of a man who survived the bomb blast in Hiroshima and boarded a train to Nagasaki. He then survived another bomb blast at Nagasaki.
When he first landed the film rights to Pellegrino’s book, the helmer didn’t state when the screen adaption would go into production. Cameron wanted to shoot Last Train From Hiroshima during a break between making his Avatar sequels.
Cameron also told The Town podcast that he delayed production on Last Train From Hiroshima in part because he has several other projects in development. “I have ten other projects, that one (Last Train From Hiroshima) just sort of hit the headlines briefly because of the book announcement and trying to push the book to a best seller because the author is a friend of mine,” he explained.
“Doesn’t mean I’m not going to make the film, but I haven’t written the script and it’s not slated right now, and I don’t even have a distribution partner on it. So it’s a pretty much a vaporware project right now. I’ve got a couple of other projects that I’ve purchased or optioned or written,” the Emmy-winning filmmaker added.
The Titanic director also added that he want to avoid drawing any direct political lines within Last Train From Hiroshima. “I just think it’s so important right now for people to remember what these weapons do. This is the only case where they’ve been used against a human target. Setting aside all the politics and the fact that I’m going to make a film about Japanese people.”
The filmmaker also noted that when he does begin working on Last Train From Hiroshima, he “wants to keep it as a kind of neutral witness to an event that actually happened to human beings.” He added that he also hopes he “can keep that flame alive, that memory.”
Cameron’s next movie is the epic sci-fi feature, Avatar: Fire and Ash. He co-wrote the screenplay for the third entry in the Avatar series with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Cameron also helmed and produced the franchise’s second sequel. 20th Century Studios will release the film in U.S. theaters on December 19.
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