India, Aug. 6 -- James Cameron is all ready to step away from blue aliens and billion-dollar box office numbers, at least for a moment. The Titanic and Avatar director has announced his next film project: a deeply personal and haunting adaptation of Ghosts of Hiroshima, a newly released book by his longtime collaborator Charles Pellegrino.

This marks Cameron's first non-Avatar film in around 15 years, and he's not taking the responsibility lightly. Set against the backdrop of the world's first nuclear attack, the story arrives on August 6 - the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing - a haunting reminder at a time when nuclear war feels closer than ever.

And that tension is part of the challenge. "If I do my job perfectly, everybody ...