Movie director James Cameron’s life and career will be the subject of a ten-episode drama starting today (June 17) as Cadence13 and Epicleff Media partner for a new season of the podcast Blockbuster. The critically acclaimed biopic series will feature “The Walking Dead” actor Ross Marquand in the lead role as Cameron.
Blockbuster debuted last year with a series of episodes that told the stories of film directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. It won two New York Festival Radio Awards, Best Mini-Series and Best Biography/Profile. Now the producers turn their attention to Cameron, whose career path went from driving a truck at age 22 to directing hit movies including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic and Avatar.
Blockbuster: The Story of James Cameron was written, narrated, and directed by three-time Emmy-award winning journalist and filmmaker Matt Schrader. He said Cameron’s career pushed him to innovate in the podcast’s storytelling format. “We believe this miniseries represents a breakthrough for what high-production audio storytelling can be, as we tap into critical moments of danger, frustration, fear, pressure, and joy that have shaped the iconic filmmaker,” said Schrader.
The ten-episode series takes place from 1977 to 1997 and follows Cameron’s meteoric rise, from bootstrapping his own short film to gambling everything, time and again, for a chance to make the most expensive film of all time: Titanic. In addition to Marquand, the production includes more than 75 characters played by an extensive cast. The podcast featured what Cadence13 says is “feature-film-caliber sound design” from Peter Bawiec that blends original and archival audio. The original score will be composed by Fernando Arroyo Lascurain and tap into the feel of iconic cinema of 1980s and 1990s Hollywood, including James Horner’s score for Titanic. The series was produced by Schrader and award-winning motion picture producer Elena Bawiec, and cast by Johnny Gidcomb, known for his work on six of the top ten highest-grossing films of all-time.
“We’re focused on high-quality storytelling and production here at C13,” said Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer at Cadence13. “We are thrilled to partner on such an incredibly creative franchise as Blockbuster, and the talented team behind it.”