James Cameron

James Cameron is the most successful filmmaker of all time by some margin, a fact we tend to take for granted. The question at the heart of the book isn't only how this came about, but what is it about Cameron that makes him such a universal storyteller?

Cinema has had its godlike directors, lifting it up into new spaces, but he is their Zeus. He is the man who made the biggest film of all time and then topped that by making the next biggest film of all time. This book encapsulates not only the magnitude of James Cameron as a filmmaker but also the minutiae—the incredible stories of an artist whose commitment to the medium knows few bounds.

The tales behind the films are as epic as the films themselves. The incredible making of The Abyss, much of it shot submerged in a decommissioned nuclear plant, could fill a book on its own. To say the least, this will be an enthralling read. Put simply, this is a film-by-film biography of the most popular director of all time.

AUTHOR: Ian Nathan, who lives and works in London, is one of the UK's best-known film writers. He is the author of eight previous books, including Alien Vault, the best-selling history of Ridley Scott's masterpiece; Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and biographies of Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson.

He is the former editor and executive editor of Empire, the world's biggest movie magazine, where he remains a contributing editor. He also regularly contributes to The Times, Independent, Mail on Sunday, Cahiers Du Cinema, and the 'Discovering Film' documentary series on Sky Arts.

200 colour photographs