“Avatar” director James Cameron said he’s so unhappy with the Trump administration that he’s leaving the United States and becoming a citizen of New Zealand.
The 70-year-old Oscar winner made the remarks during an appearance on “The F#$%ing News” podcast that aired this week. While responding to a question about Trump retaking office, Cameron replied, “I think it’s horrific, I think it’s horrifying.”
Cameron, who is Canadian, said he would not return to the United States and that his citizenship there is “imminent.”
Cameron applied for American citizenship in 2004 but withdrew his application after George W. Bush won the presidential election. The director lived in the United States for some time and later purchased a farm in New Zealand after filming “Avatar” there.
During the most recent interview, the director said, “I see a turn away from everything decent. America doesn’t stand for anything if it doesn’t stand for what it has historically stood for. It becomes a hollow idea, and I think they’re hollowing it out as fast as they can for their own benefit.”
Cameron said he doesn’t feel “safer” from news about the American president there because “we’re all in this together globally.”
“I certainly feel like I don’t have to read it on the front page every single day. And it’s just sickening,” Cameron said. “There’s something nice about the New Zealand outlets — at least they’ll put it on page three … I just don’t want to see that guy’s face anymore on the front page of the paper. It’s inescapable there, it’s like watching a car crash over and over and over.”
The “Titanic” director said becoming a New Zealand citizen “means a lot” and is “something I’ve worked toward, something I’ve had to sacrifice for.”
“If you’re going to uproot your family and you’re move somewhere, you have to invest, you have to be part of it, you have to earn standing,” the director said. “I just think you’ve got to earn your right to be in a place. … There’s kind of an innate respect and a demand for respect [here]. … Everybody has this kind of equal status in terms of personhood. And I love that – that’s what I wanted my kids to experience.”
Cameron was mocked on social media for his statements, with many pointing out that he wasn’t American anyway and mentioning how the director was happy to make a fortune at the United States box office and then trash the winner of a free and fair election.
“Don’t worry, though, he’ll still release his movies in America, because that’s where the brunt of his revenue for them comes from. Amazing filmmaker/blathering hypocrite,” one person said.
