James Cameron drawings inspired Hollywood blockbusters

James Cameron, the mastermind behind "The Terminator," "Aliens" and "Titanic," has an exhibition opening in Paris yesterday showcasing his lesser-known skills with pencil and paper.

"The Art of James Cameron" is at the Cinematheque Francaise until January.

The 69-year-old spoke to AFP to discuss the childhood origins of his films, his thoughts on artificial intelligence and a few teasers about the third "Avatar" film, due in 2025.

How important was drawing when you were a child?

Drawing was everything. It's how I processed the world. I was reading, watching films, taking in all the storytelling, and I just had to tell my own. I remember very distinctly, I went to see the film 'Mysterious Island.' And I was so amazed by the big creatures and the giant crab, but I didn't go back and draw 'Mysterious Island'. I drew my own version with different animals.

I remember in high school being very serious about disciplining myself to draw in all kinds of different styles. I created my own comics. I thought maybe I'll write a novel and illustrate it. They didn't have graphic novels yet, but I was thinking in panels... so I was really thinking in shots. The transition into filmmaking was really pretty easy.

How did these early drawings inspire your films?

My first 'Avatar' drawing was done when I was 19 so that was 50 years ago. That drawing led me to think about a bioluminescent world and I wrote a story about that in the late 70s. In the early 90s, when I founded a visual effects company and we were trying to do computer-generated characters and creatures, I needed a script about another planet, and so I went back and found that artwork, and that became 'Avatar' in 1995.

'The...