James Cameron confirms he left the US for his…

James Cameron confirms he left the US for his ‘sanity’: ‘Everybody’s at each other’s throats’

James Cameron has shared the reason behind his decision to leave the US permanently for New Zealand, explaining that America’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic clinched it for him.

The Avatar director, while working on his latest feature Avatar: Fire and Ash in February last year, told New Zealand’s Stuff publication that his move to the southern hemisphere is “something I’ve worked toward, something I’ve had to sacrifice for”.

He described the US under Donald Trump as “like watching a car crash over and over” and said his New Zealand citizenship was “imminent”.

In a new interview on In Depth with Graham Besinger, the Titanic director expanded on his reasons, stating that he moved “for the sanity” of New Zealand.

Cameron said he had decided he would eventually move to the island country when he first visited in 1994, and ended up “falling in love” with the way of life.

He bought a farm in 2011 with wife Suzy Amis, and spent time going back and forth. However, it was just after Covid hit that he decided “it was time to make the move as a family”.

“Then we were shooting in New Zealand. We came back for Christmas and then Covid hit and we didn’t get back down there,” Cameron said, referring to filming Avatar 2.

“So then I had to move mountains to get our production unit back up and running in New Zealand, and we just decided at that point in time that it was time to make the move as a family. And so, you know, everybody came down and joined me that August. So that would have been, you know, five or six months after the pandemic hit.”

Cameron continued: “New Zealand had eliminated the virus completely. They actually eliminated the virus twice. The third time, when it showed up in a mutated form, it broke through. But fortunately, they already had a 98 per cent vaccination rate.

“This is why I love New Zealand. People there are, for the most part, sane – as opposed to the United States, where you had a 62 per cent vaccination rate, and that’s going down, going the wrong direction.”

At the time, Cameron and 55 members of his crew received special permission to enter New Zealand to film, despite the border being closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The move garnered some controversy among businesses trying to get their own staff back into the country.

“Where would you rather live?” Cameron continued. “A place that actually believes in science and is sane and where people can work together cohesively to a common goal, or a place where everybody’s at each other’s throats, extremely polarised, turning its back on science and basically would be in utter disarray if another pandemic appears.”

Cameron had previously applied for American citizenship but withdrew his application after George W Bush won the 2004 US election, as per The New Yorker.