Culture
James Cameron Explains That He Has Essentially Shifted His Whole Family to New Zealand for Good Since It’s ‘Sane’ There in Comparison to the U.S.
James Cameron and Suzy Amis Cameron Move Permanently to New Zealand
For quite a while now, James Cameron has been a big fan of New Zealand. But it was actually how the COVID-19 pandemic played out that forced him and his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, to finally decide to move to the country for good.
The 71-year-old director of Avatar: The Way of Water revealed that it was New Zealand’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 which greatly influenced his decision to live there during his chat on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
Cameron explained that the first time he went to New Zealand was back in 1994 and he was so “taken” by the place that he even made a promise to himself, “I’m going to come live here someday.” However, Suzy, 64, being initially ‘game’ for the idea when it was just the two of them and still getting serious, was a different situation when the transition meant moving them away from their established roots and family in Malibu and Santa Barbara. The couple, who have been married since 2000 and have three children together, after finishing the production of Avatar, finally took the plunge to move.
James Cameron Reveals That It Wasn’t The First Time That He Had Decided To Move To New Zealand
James Cameron has admitted that he was on the verge of moving to New Zealand for a while but it was the way the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic that really tipped things in their favor.
The director, who acquired a property in New Zealand in 2011, reckons it has been a lot of “up and down” trips for a good decade until he completed his 2022 movie Avatar: The Way of Water. Nevertheless, in August 2020, the family decided to settle down in New Zealand for good.
“New Zealand totally wiped the virus out,” Cameron explained, “In fact, they actually eliminated the virus twice.”
He went on to explain how New Zealand was able to manage the situation when the virus mutated and came back, as the people there were already equipped with “a 98% vaccination rate.”
“This is the reason why I adore New Zealand,” Cameron remarked. “The majority of the people there are completely rational, which is in stark contrast with the United States where only 62% of the population are vaccinated and the trend is going down — the opposite direction.”
James Cameron Says He Chose New Zealand for “Sanity,” Not Scenery
That was pretty straightforward of James Cameron when he said that New Zealand was ultimately chosen over the United States.
During his talk with Graham Bensinger, the Titanic director put forward a hypothetical, “Where would you rather live?”
“A place that actually believes in science and is sane and where people can work together cohesively to a common goal, or a place where everybody’s at each other’s throats, extremely polarized, turning its back on science and basically would be in utter disarray if another pandemic appears?”
When Cameron asked Bensinger where he would rather live after painting the U.S. as the place that everyone wants to live, he replied “from my perspective, I think of the U.S. as a fantastic place to live.” But Cameron disagreed, “Is it really?”
Even though New Zealand is famous for its spectacular scenery, Cameron said it wasn’t that at all that tipped the scales. “I’m not there for the scenery,” he said. “I’m there for the sanity.”
James Cameron’s Family and a Conversation He Will Have
James Cameron was married to four different women before he married Suzy Amis Cameron. He has an grown up daughter, Josephine, with Linda Hamilton who played alongside him in Terminator. Suzy has a son, Jasper, with Sam Robards, the actor, from her previous marriage.
Cameron’s entire interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger is going to be broadcast in syndication all over the U.S. this weekend.
