How James Cameron Took Roger Corman's Battle Beyond The Stars To The Next Level

In December 2023, the first part of Zack Snyder's sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" was released on Netflix to cold reviews and audience indifference. The story of "Rebel Moon" followed a rebel named Kora who knew that an evil Empire was traveling to her home world — the titular rebel moon — to steal all their grain and force the natives to starvation. Kora trekked out into the galaxy to collect whatever ragtag warriors she could find, hoping to hire them as her homeworld's scant defenders. 

The story, of course, was adapted directly from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic "Seven Samurai," and no review of Snyder's film was complete without direct comparison's to the master's work. Even the plot point of stolen grain is common between the two films. 

More cinematically well-versed critics likely also made a comparison to "Battle Beyond the Stars," a 1980 sci-fi "Seven Samurai" riff directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and written by John Sayles. That film followed Shad (Richard Thomas), who had to assemble his own ragtag team of warriors to defend his planet from the marauding Sador (John Saxon), a villain who used grotesque surgeries to prolong his life. Shad's warriors were far more colorful and varied than in "Rebel Moon," and included a hot Valkyrie, a quartet of aliens who shared a consciousness, a blind swordsman, and a literal space cowboy. "Battle Beyond the Stars" is an excellent film despite its relatively low $2 million price tag. 

The movie's visual effects were invented by James Cameron, who worked as a model maker for Roger Corman's New World Pictures at the time. In 2022, Corman talked with The Ringer about Cameron, and related how the young model-maker was so impressive that Corman deigned to (shock!) give him a raise.

Readers would do well to recall that the late Roger Corman prided himself on making movies on schedule and under budget. Indeed, Corman often bragged that he never lost a dime making movies in Hollywood (his autobiography is called "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime"). If a film was falling behind schedule, or butting up against its budget, Corman was quick to step in and get to the bottom of things. 

The filming of "Battle Beyond the Stars" went swimmingly, but it began to slow in post, as some of the effects were taking longer than expected. He sent an assistant to go check it out. The assistant happened to be Gale Anne Hurd, future Hollywood producer. The effects technician she went to check on was James Cameron, future film director and Hurd's husband from 1985 to 1989. Corman recalled:

"I was making a science-fiction film. I think it was called Battle Beyond the Stars. And the shooting went very well. We were in post-production. Everything was going along well, except our [visual] effects department was falling behind schedule. So I sent my ace assistant, Gale Hurd, down to the studio to watch the [visual] effects for a day and then tell me why they were falling behind schedule." 

Hurd went to the effects department and was greeted by a confident young man, Cameron, whom she assumed was the manager of the place. The young model-maker showed her around, and it became clear why there were delays ... but also that amazing work was being done.

Hurd recalled:

"Not only did [Cameron] show me around, but he explained the backstory for each of the ships and what it represented for the culture of that alien species. It was far beyond 'Isn't this cool? We just decided to do something that looks cool.' It all came from character. [...] I left and went back to report to Roger. I said, 'I met with Jim Cameron, the head of the model shop.' And he said, 'No, he's not.' Which was a big surprise to me. And I think I probably said, 'Well, he should be.'" 

Hurd's recommendation caused Corman to perk up. Who was this upstart who was taking his time and putting a lot of thought and energy into model-building? Cameron wasn't merely banging out generic "Star Wars" rip-off ships, but trying to think who the pilot of each ship might be. Corman talked to Cameron himself and was also quite impressed. Corman recalled: 

"I talked with him for a little while, and I said, 'Jim, this is something I've never done. I'm giving you a raise, and you're going to be the new head of special effects.' In addition, there's always a little second-unit shooting that you do so that they can take care of some shots that your main crew doesn't do. So I said, 'Jim, I'd like to have you shoot some shots for me.' And he showed me the footage, and I thought, "This is better than the director of the picture.' I moved a lot of shooting over to the second unit, and Jim directed all of it."

So a lot of the effects one sees in "Battle Beyond the Stars" are overseen by future "Avatar" captain, James Cameron. If you've ever wondered why the film looks so impressive, that's why.