HE’S a director, writer, producer and deep sea explorer responsible for films such as Avatar, Titanic, Terminators 1 and 2, and aliens.

Now James Cameron has joined Reddit for an AMA (Ask Me Anything).

Here are 12 things you may not have known about one of Hollywood’s biggest power players.

Who would win a fight between Avatar’s Na’vi, Terminator’s T-800 and the Alien Queen?

“An Armed T-800 with a plasma rifle will clean house, all it has to do is shoot the Alien Queen, and have it bleed on the Na’vi. I would think that all three of them unarmed. Queen beats Na’vi. Queen beats T-800, because the T-800 would tear the arm off a queen, which would dissolve the mantel and shut down the cyborg.

“Now a Na’vi riding a leonopteryx, or a Na’vi riding a thanataur, that would be a different story.

The gift he got from George Lucas when Titanic became the highest grossing film of all time.

“George took out a full page colour ad in one of the trades, Variety or Hollywood Reporter, I can’t remember which, and it was an extremely gracious gesture. I sent him a thankyou note after.”

Why do all of his films have a character shouting ‘Go Go Go!’?

“Oh, it must just be the way I talk! In fact I just wrote a scene yesterday where a character says “Go Go Go!” The page is open on my computer right now.

“First of all, people do that in the military. The reason for it, especially over radio comm, is that people can inadvertently stop a transmission, so if something is really important, you say it three times. Which is why when I do my deep dives, I would always say “Release, release, release” so there was no doubt in case the communications got stepped on by another transmission or interference.

What does Cameron do to get the creative juices flowing?

“Well, I’ll work out or do yoga. Sometimes I’ll read or watch something that is in the same area code to the project I’m working on. If I’m in the midst of a project, I’ll go back and read what I wrote the day before. I also have an extensive file of images- photographs and art- that I like to consult. “

What was the biggest challenge he faced when you travelled down the Mariana Trench? Since when was he planning to do it and why?

“Well, there were a number of challenges leading up to the dive in terms of creating a new submersible from scratch that involved many new technologies, and anybody who has ever built a complex new technological system from scratch knows what I’m talking about.

“But the biggest challenge on the day of the dive itself was the sea state, we had a 2 and a half meter sea, so talking close to 8-10 foot waves. That was bigger than we were supposed to launch in. And during the launch process, one of our key safety systems got broken on the submersible. And I elected to dive anyway. Then it turned out not to be necessary, it was a backup system, and the dive went fairly well after that.

“Your ears don’t pop, because the submersible is designed to withstand the pressure. What you feel is the cold, and the confinement. Now your MIND is very aware of the pressure, because if the submersible were to fail, you’d cease to exist in a microsecond. I call it “being chummed into a meat cloud.” Needless to say, that didn’t happen, unless we’re in one of those parallel universes we were talking about before.

“On that dive, we discovered a number of new species, they were very small, including a new sea cucumber, it was very small, I referred to one of them as a “little sea pig” because they look like little pink piglets. They’re about as big as your thumb, or maybe smaller. Technically, they’re called Holothurian. And we also discovered a large number of new bacterial species that live in the bottom sediment down there. But the impression is of a very desolate landscape, like the moon. You have to look very closely to find life down there.”

Does he still have nightmares about terminators?

“No, I’ve never had nightmares about Terminators after I made the film. I had nightmares that inspired the film. But I always feel that making the film is the catharsis that stops the nightmares, if you will.

“For example, I used to always have nightmares about giant waves, tsunamis essentially. And when I made the Abyss, which had a giant wave scene in it, those stopped.

Filmmaking is therapy

Does he still talk to Leonardo DiCaprio?

“I think Leonardo, when I cast him in Titanic, he was well on his way. I think I helped him skip a rung or two on the ladder maybe, but he certainly would have gotten there on his own because he’s one of the most talented actors of his generation.

“Do I still talk to him? Yes, occasionally. We’re friendly but we’re not close friends.

What’s the best advice he’s ever received?

“As a film director, the best advice I ever got was from Roger Corman. He said “film directing is hard work, sit down as much as possible.”

“The funny thing is, I never followed it! I always come in on first day of production, and there’s a producer chair with my name on it, and I say “take it away! It won’t be used.”

What is his favourite song to sing in the shower?

“Depends on my mood. If I’m feeling aggressive, it’s Ride of the Valkyries, though it might just as easily be a Bruce Springsteen song.”

Not My Heart Will Go On?

“No, I can’t hit those high notes like Celine.”

What’s his favourite film of this year?

“This year, 2014, I haven’t seen that much that inspired me yet. My favourite film of last year, hands down, was Gravity, and I was hoping it would win best picture, but certainly happy that my friend Alfonso Cuaron won best director.

“I did think that this new Captain America was an interesting film for its genre, in that it tackled this idea of digital surveillance and the kind of dark side of our hyperconnected society.

What’s his favourite thing to do in his free time?

“Just hanging out with the family, with the kids, that’s my #1 thing. And my sort of private time thing I like to do the most is scuba dive or free dive.”