Echoing the unstoppable android he created, James Cameron says he'll be back.
Just don't press the Terminator director for details about what his feature-film follow-up to the blockbuster Titanic will be.
"My current challenge is to direct four features in five years. That will double my rate," says Cameron, remarking on his four-year absence from moviemaking.
"I'll be using a lot of tricks I've learned as a television producer to compress and accelerate. I can't give you the big scoop right now ... I don't want it to end up all over the Internet."
For now fans will have to make due with tomorrow's 90-minute finale of Dark Angel, the science fiction drama that marks Cameron's first directorial effort since he proclaimed himself "King of the World" while winning the best director Oscar for Titanic.
Speaking to the Sun from Los Angeles, where he's busy finishing the episode -- "We're still mixing, but we'll be there Friday night" -- the 47-year-old Canadian filmmaker, who co-created and produces Dark Angel, says he decided to helm the season ender himself for "purely pragmatic" reasons.
"We had lost our director to some kind of scheduling conflict," he says, adding a big sendoff was critical to "help influence the network to put us in a better timeslot."
But Cameron laughs off reports that his famous perfectionism -- Titanic, True Lies, The Abyss and Terminator 2 were all notoriously difficult shoots -- caused the finale's budget to balloon to $10 million US. "You've been on the Internet," he says.
"The home movies of my daughter's birthday cost $10 million too. It gets ridiculous."
He says the budget for an average Dark Angel is $2.4 million US. "We elected to make this a 90-minute episode. The final number is $3.4 million.
"So if you do the math, that's pretty linear ...
"Plus you add in that the ad rate is higher because it's more promotable because of my name and it's more favourable (economically)."
'A BETTER DIRECTOR'
Cameron spent six weeks in Vancouver where the series -- starring Jessica Alba ("I just loved her bad attitude," Cameron says, recalling why he cast the 21-year-old actress) as a genetically-engineered supersiren -- is filmed.
"It turns out, everything on the show's working good -- except that the director didn't know how to do television. But I caught on pretty fast and I think it actually made me a better director.
"Desperation forces you to use new tricks."
For Cameron, coming off the most expensive film ever ($180 million US), the comparatively-tiny TV budget recalled his early pre-Terminator days -- working for B-movie kingpin Roger Corman.
"I ended up shooting a lot of it myself, including one of the big action scenes.
"I did 160 set-ups in one day, which is triple my previous record. Really it was just about gunning and running ... The crew was fantastic.
"I expected them to be pretty burned out after a gruelling season, and they were tired, but they had the energy and the will," Cameron says, adding he may return to shoot in Vancouver again. "There was a real can-do spirit. There was no whining ...
"I don't mean to diss Hollywood crews, but with a small unit, it's take-no-prisoners ... I try to set the bar higher. That's why I charged in, so that would inspire them."
Just like Cameron hopes his episode inspires Fox to renew Dark Angel.
"It's pretty common knowledge that we were on the bubble. We have a 50-50 chance for renewal.
"So part of what we tried with this episode is to show what potential the show has."
Ironically, Cameron's biggest competition tomorrow may come from Spider-Man, which he was attached to direct.
That deal fell apart, as did a plan for him to helm Terminator 3.
"I hope that they're both good. I hope with T3 that it's a worthy successor. And ... I'm a big Spidey fan and I hope they haven't screwed it up."
Of course, his good will only extends so far.
"I hope people can wait to see Spider-Man until Saturday."
