Rewind film: Piranha 2, directed by James Cameron

Tricia O'Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen
James Cameron

He's helmed the two most successful films of all time ( Avatar, Titanic), created a sci-fi franchise ( Terminator) and explored the deepest parts of the ocean in documentaries. But before all that, James Cameron was a struggling filmmaker given the opportunity to direct the sequel to a popular genre flick, Piranha 2: The Spawning.

We open with a pair of divers journeying deep in search of naval wreckage - and as one does in this kind of situation, they strip off underwater and are about to get it on when a piranha attacks them. The next day, diving instructor Anne hears of their death and is sure it is piranhas - but the town ignores her calls to avoid the water until it is too late. It's then up to her to battle these flying, feeding creatures.

That sounds like a Jaws rip-off - but keep reading: the stories behind the production are arguably greater than the film itself.

Devout Cameron fans whisper in hushed tones about the exploits of the filmmaker: how he stayed up nights single-handedly building rubber piranhas; how he posed as a waiter to sneak into a police station and steal a uniform; how he spent days sailing dangerously through storms to get a shot of a cloud shooting out lightning.

But all of them pale in comparison to the oft-disputed tale of ambition that turned to crime. Fired from the film's production after clashing with the producer and going far over budget, Cameron was determined to showcase his auteur-like vision of flying killer fish to the world. He flew to Rome and under cover of night, slipped into the well-guarded studio where his film was being stored. There, he broke into an editing room and began putting together his first masterpiece.