Cameron's $100M Blockbuster Built on French Film Adaptation
Long before AI content debates, James Cameron's expensive 1994 action hit sparked plagiarism lawsuits that reached French courts and involved multiple filmmakers in a complex legal battle.
Long before artificial intelligence sparked debates about content originality, James Cameron found himself connected to a plagiarism controversy involving his 1994 blockbuster. The director's most expensive film at the time, which cost $115 million to produce, was based on a French comedy from 1991 called La Totale!
The action-packed movie starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a government spy trying to juggle his secret career with family responsibilities. Jamie Lee Curtis played his wife in what became Cameron's only adaptation project. Despite earning $378 million worldwide, the film would later become entangled in legal disputes that stretched across international courts.
Legal Battle Reaches Paris Courts
The controversy began in 2000 when French screenwriter Lucien Lambert filed a lawsuit against both Cameron and Claude Zidi, who directed the original French film. Lambert claimed that Zidi had stolen ideas from his unpublished 1981 screenplay called Émilie when creating La Totale!
The case made its way through the French legal system for several years. In June 2004, the Court of Appeal of Paris sided with Lambert, ordering Zidi to pay an undisclosed sum from the approximately $15 million he had earned from the film's success. However, Cameron escaped liability because the court determined he had purchased the rights to La Totale! in good faith, unaware of any underlying disputes.
Why No Sequel Ever Happened
Plans for a follow-up were actively discussed before September 11, 2001, but the terrorist attacks changed everything. Cameron explained that he couldn't proceed with the project given the new global climate surrounding terrorism.
Curtis echoed these sentiments in a 2019 interview, stating: "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."
Schwarzenegger revealed in 2003 that a script for the sequel included an airplane fight scene, but they were rewriting it due to sensitivity concerns. As years passed, updates about the sequel became increasingly rare until it became clear the project would never materialize. The original film maintains its status as a classic action movie, earning a 7.3/10 rating on IMDb and 72% on Rotten Tomatoes.