James Cameron regrets his tyrannical behaviour on the sets of some of his previous movies.

The filmmaker, who is responsible for some of the highest-grossing films in Hollywood history, including Avatar, Titanic, and The Terminator, is a famous perfectionist who is uncompromising in his approach to making movies.

However, according to Slash Film, during a recent event for online teaching platform Masterclass, the legendary director described himself as a “tinpot dictator” and revealed he wishes he’d been a bit more like his more amiable peer Ron Howard.

“I could’ve listened more. I could’ve been less autocratic,” he added. “I could’ve not made the movie more important than the human interaction of the crew.”

Cameron admitted that a visit to Howard’s film set left him “dumbfounded” at how much time he took to compliment people and listen to others.

“I aspire, even today, to try to be my inner Ron Howard,” he noted.

The director also said that he considers filmmaking a “constant process of learning,” and explained that he wishes he had learned to be more of a team player earlier in his career, and said of filmmaking, “It’s not a dictatorship, it’s a collaborative medium.”

On-screen, however, the movie legend said conflict is one of the most important parts of creating a compelling film.

“The worst thing you can have is everybody all on the same side of the argument,” he added. “There has to be conflict because your characters are tested by conflict and by betrayal and by loss. And we want to feel that we’re walking that character’s life with them, that we’re walking with them through their journey.”

Cameron is currently filming Avatar 4 and 5 and working on post-production for Avatar 2 and 3.

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