James Cameron is willing to spend 16-plus years and hundreds of millions dollars making the Avatar films, but he won’t ever fill out some paperwork to become a U.S. citizen. Guess it’s, “Hasta la vista, baby,” right?
The revelation came as Cameron spoke to BuzzFeed Canada during this week’s Avatar: Fire and Ash premiere at Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theatre. Despite “[living] there for 47 years in L.A.,” Cameron, a native of Ontario, said he has no interest in becoming a citizen of the US.
“I did think about it for a while because I thought there was a lot of nobility in the ‘American democratic experiment,’” Cameron said. “But where the hell did that go? I’m over it. I think Canadians are way over it.”
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The same goes for that mostly ridiculous notion of Canada becoming the “51st state” that’s often floated within right-wing circles.
“When there was all this talk about become the 51st state and all that crap,” Cameron said. “I said, ‘You don’t understand; we will fight to the last moose.’”
So, where exactly does Cameron lay his head these days? As of at least February 2025, that’d be New Zealand. And around the time of his expatriation, Cameron called the efforts of President Donald Trump “horrifying,” adding that, “America doesn’t stand for anything if it doesn’t stand for what it has historically stood for.” Then, in the wake of Trump’s comments about Rob Reiner from earlier this week, Cameron called the president “the most narcissistic a**hole in history.” Truly, Pandora must be proud of its mighty leader.
Check out Cameron’s BuzzFeed interview below.
@buzzfeedcanada He’s explored the deep sea… but not U.S. citizenship. We ❤️ our Ontario homeboy James Cameron 🍁 Support local, homegrown talent and watch ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is in theatres Dec 19 🔥 #avatar #avatarfireandash #avatar3 #jamescameron