James Cameron Slams Amy Poehler’s Golden Globes Joke About His Marriage: “Went Too Far”

James Cameron has spoken out about a joke made by Amy Poehler at the 2013 Golden Globes that involved his marriage to director Kathryn Bigelow, calling it an “ignorant dig” that “went too far.”

The Avatar: Fire and Ash filmmaker shared his thoughts in a recent interview with the New York Times, reflecting on his long career and reputation in Hollywood.

On stage at the awards show, Poehler joked about the Best Director nomination for Bigelow, saying, “But when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.”

The audience laughed, but Cameron stayed silent at the time. Looking back, he said the joke crossed a line. “I’m pretty thick-skinned, and happy to be the butt of a good-natured joke, but that went too far,” he told the Times. “Especially at an event which is supposed to be a celebration of cinema and filmmakers, not a roast.”

Cameron said what bothered him most was the reaction of the audience. “The fact that people found it funny shows exactly what they think of me, even though they have no idea who I am or how I work,” he explained.

The director’s reputation for being demanding and exacting has followed him throughout his career. For instance, he told biographer Rebecca Keegan in her 2009 book, The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron, that the crew on his 1986 film Aliens was often “lazy, insolent, and arrogant,” while the crew of his 1989 sci-fi thriller The Abyss even wore T-shirts reading, “You can’t scare me, I work for Jim Cameron.”

Despite the criticism, many of Cameron’s collaborators praise the same traits. Kate Winslet, who worked with him on Titanic and later Avatar: The Way of Water, said in 2022, “A chef is never gonna send a great dish out to the table if he’s not happy with that plate.” She described reading his sequel script as “a phenomenal experience… because it’s just so thorough. The guy is such a perfectionist.”

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