James Cameron moved his family to New Zealand…
James Cameron has revealed what led him and his family to go away the US for New Zealand.
The “Titanic” director, 71, opened up about the shocking resolution during a new episode of “In Depth with Graham Besinger” launched on Wednesday.
Cameron, who formally turned a New Zealand citizen this past August, started by explaining how he “just really fell in love with” the nation and its people when he first visited in 1994.
James Cameron explained his resolution to go away the US for New Zealand during an episode of “In Depth with Graham Besinger” launched on Jan. 21, 2026. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
The “Avatar” director said that he “just really fell in love with” the nation when he first visited in 1994. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
But it wasn’t until 11 years after he married his fifth and current spouse, Suzy Amis, in 2000 – and two years after the release of the first “Avatar” film in 2009 – that the filmmaker pulled the set off and bought a farm in New Zealand.
“When Suzy and I were first getting serious, she said, ‘Fine, no problem.’ She was game,” he shared. “Now, later, we have children, we have a family, we’ve got roots in Malibu and Santa Barbara, that conversation had to be amended slightly, but we did say after ‘Avatar,’ let’s make this happen.”
The “True Lies” director and Amis, 64, share three daughters: Claire, 23, Quinn, 21, and Elizabeth, 18. He also shares a fourth daughter, Josephine, 31, from his relationship with his second spouse, Linda Hamilton.
James Cameron and his spouse, Suzy Amis, during an interview at their home in Malibu, California, in 2013. Getty Images
Cameron and his spouse during the premiere of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” in Wellington, New Zealand, on Dec. 13, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Cameron, his spouse and their three youngsters spent important time “going back and forth” between the US and New Zealand between 2011 and when the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020.
Although he was still working on 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” at the time, he and Amis determined to “make the move as a family” that August because of how New Zealand responded to the pandemic versus the US.
“New Zealand had eliminated the virus completely,” the “Terminator” director, who was born in Canada but moved to California in 1971, told Besinger. “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% vaccination rate.”
Cameron on the set of the first “Avatar” film in 2009. ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
James Cameron during a Disney event in Anaheim, California, on Aug. 9, 2024. Getty Images for Disney
“This is why I love New Zealand,” he continued. “People there are, for the most part, sane as opposed to the United States, where you had a 62% vaccination rate, and that’s going down – going the wrong direction.”
Cameron went on to reward New Zealand’s appreciation for science and advised that the US would crumble if another pandemic occurred.
“Where would you rather live?” the Oscar-winning director requested. “A place that actually believes in science and is sane, and where people can work together cohesively to a common goal?”
James Cameron during an “Avatar: Fire and Ash” photocall in Paris, France, on Dec. 4, 2025. Cyril Pecquenard/SIPA/Shutterstock
Cameron and his spouse during the Los Angeles premiere of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” on Dec. 1, 2025. REUTERS
He continued, “Or a place where everybody’s at each other’s throats, extremely polarized, turning its back on science and basically would be in utter disarray if another pandemic appears?”
After Bensinger argued that the US is a “fantastic place to live” but acknowledged New Zealand’s natural magnificence, the “Avatar: Fire and Ash” filmmaker doubled down on his resolution to go away one for the other.
“I’m not there for scenery,” he said. “I’m there for the sanity.”
Cameron at the world premiere of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” in Hollywood, California, on Dec. 1, 2025. Getty Images for twentieth Century Studios
Cameron beforehand opened up about his desire for New Zealand over the US last yr, shortly before he was granted New Zealand citizenship.
“It means a lot. It’s something I’ve worked toward, something I’ve had to sacrifice for,” he told the New Zealand outlet Stuff at the time.
“If you’re going to uproot your family and move somewhere, you have to invest, you have to be part of it, you have to earn standing,” Cameron added. “I just think you’ve got to earn your right to be in a place.”
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