“Avatar” director James Cameron has lived many lives in his 71 years, including a wild acid trip in the 1970s that ended with accidental gunfire.
James Cameron Recalls Wild Acid Trip
The “Titanic” director recalled a wild experience during a camping trip to the Colorado River in the 1970s, telling Graham Bensinger about an acid thip that went wrong.
“So, a year before, I was up there with my, my first wife Sharon, driving around in her Camaro. And we decided to go rabbit hunting as you do when you’re really bored, and in the town of Needles [in California],” Cameron began during the Wednesday, January 21, appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger.” “And so I was riding around on the hood of our car with a .22, never hit a [expletive] thing. I was a [expletive] shot at that point.”
A year later—after the stray ammo had been “rolling around” in the car for 12 months—they return to the campsite.
“I clean up the car for some reason, and I find this ammo, and I just shove it in like a hamburger bag,” he continued. “You know, there was just some, some fast food trash in the car. And, all right, full disclosure – then we drop acid.”
The story took an unexpected (or expected, based on his drug of choice) turn as he went into town in search of hot dogs.
“I come back, there’s a campfire going, and my wife Sharon and her friend Lisa have made a campfire. So we’re all sitting there, and we’re on acid and cooking hot dogs, and the fire goes, pew!” Cameron laughed.
Turned out Sharon and her friend got the fire started with the previously mentioned hamburger bag, which they were unaware was filled with stray bullets.
“I grabbed everybody, and we jumped behind the car, and then bullets start flying out of the campfire and pinging the car — got a couple bullet holes in the car,” he said.
James Cameron Reveals the Inspiration for ‘Avatar’
During the same chat with Bensinger, the “Titanic” director questioned whether he may have “stunted” his creativity due to his occasional use of mind-altering substances. However, as Cameron revealed, his inspiration for “Avatar” struck when he was just 19 years old.
“The dream that I had that wound up yielding a piece of artwork that ultimately was the inspiration for ‘Avatar’, I had when I was 19,” he told Bensinger. “So, it was in that kind of experimental time period.”
