Explore the production secrets, directorial vision, and thematic depth behind one of cinema's greatest action films.

James Cameron might be an iconic director now, but in the early '80s, he was a little-known creator just starting. His first film, 1982's Piranha II: The Spawning, wasn't great, to put it mildly.

In 1986, James Cameron was a young filmmaker under immense pressure as the writer and director of “Aliens,” a big-budget follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic. Although tensions were high, ...