James Cameron, director of the cult films «Titanic» and «Avatar», acquired the rights to film two books by Charles Pellegrino about the nuclear bombing of Japan.
We are talking about the upcoming book «Ghosts of Hiroshima» and the previously published «Last Train from Hiroshima». Cameron intends to combine these stories into one «uncompromising feature film», which will be called «Last Train from Hiroshima».
The plot of the upcoming film will focus on the story of a Japanese man who survived the atomic explosion in Hiroshima and then, having boarded a train to Nagasaki, survived the second explosion. Pellegrino’s books are based on eyewitness accounts and the latest methods of forensic archaeology, revealing the events of August 1945.
Cameron said that the topic of the nuclear threat has been bothering him since childhood, when he witnessed the Cuban Missile Crisis at the age of 8. The director met Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic explosions, shortly before his death. «I cannot turn away from this story,» Cameron said.
The theme of nuclear war has already appeared in the director’s work, in particular in the films «Terminator» and «Terminator 2: Judgment Day». This project will be Cameron’s first non-«Avatar» film since «Titanic», which was released in 1997.
Source: Deadline