James Cameron, winner of an Academy Award for Best Director, has reportedly bought the rights to Charles Pellegrino's upcoming book Ghosts of Hiroshima. Additionally, the filmmaker has pledged to use Charles Pellegrino's 2015 book Last Train From Hiroshima as the basis for a film he plans to shoot once he receives permission to shoot Avatar. 

James Cameron to combine two books into one film

Cameron revealed to Deadline that he will combine the two nonfiction books into one "uncompromising theatrical film." The filmmaker hasn't directed a film other than the Avatar series since 1997's Oscar-winning Titanic. The title of the film is Last Train From Hiroshima. In August of 2025, Blackstone Publishing will release Ghosts of Hiroshima by Pellegrino. Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the bomb's drop in 1945.

The film is based in part on the real-life tale of a Japanese soldier who, after surviving the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rode a train to the city and again survived the nuclear disaster there. Bomb survivors' testimonies and the emerging field of forensic archaeology are central to Pellegrino's two books. Pellegrino chronicles in enormous detail the two days in August 1945 when nuclear bombs dropped over Japan, irrevocably altering the course of Earth's history. Both volumes focus on the stories of Japanese citizens on the ground and American pilots in the air who were there when the atomic bombs went off. The bombings claimed the lives of between 150,000 and 246,000 people.

James Cameron's personal connection and inspiration for the film

According to Cameron's interview with the international portal, it's a subject that he wants to do a film about, and he has been wrestling with how to do it over the years. Just days before he passed away, the filmmaker met Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivor Tsutomu Yamaguchi at the medical facility. He felt obligated to carry on his legacy as the survivor passed the torch, and the sight of it captivates me. During their visit, Cameron and Pellegrino promised Yamaguchi that they would pass on his unique and harrowing experience to future generations.

Cameron's dread of nuclear war, which he portrayed in numerous of his legendary features, such as The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, has plagued him since he observed the Cuban Missile Crisis playing out when he was eight years old.

The Story Factory's Shane Salerno, who was a co-screenwriter on Avatar: The Way of Water with Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, next year's Avatar: Fire and Ash, and two more Avatar sequels, brokered the publishing deal for Cameron's current project. Pellegrino was Cameron's science advisor for Titanic and Avatar. He has written over 30 books.

Blackstone CEO Josh Stanton said that everyone at the imprint is thrilled and honoured to be the publisher of Ghosts of Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino, which will serve as part of the source material for James Cameron's epic motion picture. Blackstone also published the audiobook version of Oppenheimer, which quickly became a top seller in the New York Times.

Christopher Nolan's response to depicting bomb effects in Oppenheimer

During the promotional tour for his seven Oscar-winning picture Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan faced an intriguing question: "Why did you choose not to depict the bombs' effects on Japan?" He responded by saying that he hopes another film will address that aspect of the story. 

Using breakthrough visual effects, an epic love story, and class tensions to depict the story of the tragic sinking of the Titanic, Cameron earned eleven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the film grossed $2.26 billion in 1998. It will be fascinating to see how the legendary director, responsible for three of the top four grossing films of all time, brings to life the story he has been nurturing for so long.

Read Also: Devara: The Jr NTR starrer creates a new US box office record even before its release