James Cameron’s $100M Blockbuster Faced Plagiarism Claims Before AI Era
Long before AI-generated scripts became a hot topic, James Cameron’s first $100 million film, True Lies, found itself at the center of a plagiarism controversy. Discover the story behind the blockbuster, the legal battle it sparked, and why its sequel never happened.
Back in 1994, James Cameron released his first film with a production budget topping $100 million. The action- packed movie, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, drew inspiration from a French comedy released just three years earlier. The result was a high-octane blend of espionage and family drama that quickly became a box office sensation.
From French Comedy to Hollywood Action
True Lies, which hit theaters in the summer of 1994, was based on the 1991 French film La Totale! Cameron adapted the story, casting Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a secret agent juggling his covert missions with the challenges of home life. The film’s budget soared to $115 million, but it paid off, grossing $378 million worldwide and earning strong ratings from both critics and audiences.
Despite its success, the movie’s origins would later become the subject of legal scrutiny. Cameron, who had never before adapted another filmmaker’s work, found himself drawn into a lawsuit that questioned the originality of the story he brought to American audiences.
Legal Dispute Over Story Rights
Six years after the film’s release, a French screenwriter named Lucien Lambert filed a lawsuit against Claude Zidi, the director of La Totale!, and Cameron. Lambert claimed that Zidi had lifted elements from his unproduced 1981 script, Émilie, when creating the French film that inspired True Lies.
The case eventually reached the Court of Appeal of Paris. In 2004, the court sided with Lambert, ordering Zidi to pay damages from the profits he earned. Cameron, however, was cleared of any wrongdoing. The court found that he had legally acquired the rights to adapt La Totale! and had no knowledge of the alleged plagiarism in the original French screenplay.
The Unmade Sequel and Its Reasons
For years, fans hoped for a follow-up to the 1994 hit. Plans for a sequel were in motion, with the cast and crew expressing interest. However, the world changed after the events of September 11, 2001. The film’s lighthearted take on terrorism no longer felt appropriate in the new global climate.
James Cameron explained that he couldn’t move forward with a sequel "given the current world climate." Jamie Lee Curtis echoed this sentiment in a 2019 interview, saying,
I don’t think we could ever do another ‘True Lies’ after 9/11. This was pre 9/11 so I wouldn’t want to say we could make fun of terrorism but we could make fun of terrorism because it was so outrageous and of course, we can’t ever make fun of them ever again.
Arnold Schwarzenegger also revealed that a script for the sequel existed, featuring a dramatic airplane fight scene, but the project was repeatedly delayed and eventually shelved. Over time, updates about a second installment faded away, leaving the original as a classic in its own right.