The filmmaker who said James Cameron “can’t direct his way out of a paper bag”

Posted On October 17, 2025October 17, 2025

There is a hierarchy in Hollywood when it comes to “commercial viability” and other such ultra-capitalist garbage terms, and since the 1980s, James Cameron has absolutely dominated those metrics.

In comparison to his contemporaries, like Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, Cameron hasn’t actually made that many movies. Instead, he has dedicated himself to passionate projects that have cost a fuck tonne of money and people to bring them to life. He’s spent practically the whole 21st century occupied by his Avatar franchise (God knows why), but before that, it was Titanic that took him years to conceive, taking on the extensive project with full faith that it was going to be a success.

And it was. Titanic became the highest-grossing movie of all time upon its release, and it saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet achieving a kind of stardom that most people wouldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams. Perfecting the balancing act between maudlin and epic, it knew exactly what it had to do to worm its way into the brains of fans everywhere, and even if you’re not into big blockbusters, you’ll probably find yourself weeping over the film at Christmas time when you inevitably stumble upon a rerun on ITV2.

Cameron recreated the 1912 disaster with elaborate replicas of the ship in varying sizes, allowing huge amounts of water to flood the sets and accurately capture the terror of that fateful night. With a fictionalised love story anchoring the film’s sentimentality, and a sweeping Celine Dion song that was simply unavoidable, Titanic was a cinematic sensation.

Not everyone was a fan, though. In particular, French New Wave director Jacques Rivette, known for his daring experiments like Celine and Julie Go Boating, just hated it. He didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts on the film in an interview with Les Inrockuptibles in 1998, stating, “I agree completely with what Jean-Luc [Godard] said in this week’s Elle: it’s garbage. Cameron isn’t evil, he’s not an asshole like Spielberg. He wants to be the new [Cecil B] De Mille.”

Rivette continued his brutal tirade, explaining, “Unfortunately, he can’t direct his way out of a paper bag.” While it might hurt to hear someone as legendary as Rivette insulting your filmmaking abilities, I’m sure Cameron and the huge sum sitting in his bank account haven’t minded too much.

“On top of which, the actress is awful, unwatchable, the most slovenly girl to appear on the screen in a long, long time. That’s why it’s been such a success with young girls, especially inhibited, slightly plump American girls who see the film over and over as if they were on a pilgrimage: they recognise themselves in her, and dream of falling into the arms of the gorgeous Leonardo,” he continued.

Rivette’s comments about Winslet are certainly questionable – she certainly isn’t any of those things, and she turns in a great performance in Titanic. The movie just wasn’t for him, with its showy special effects and overly emotional approach. It doesn’t exactly harness the long takes and experimental flair of Out 1, but if it did, it wouldn’t exactly be a money-making hit.

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