With Avatar currently destroying competition at the box office and also the second highest grossing film of all time (only behind his previous film, Titanic), James Cameron has optioned the book The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, so says Variety. The upcoming nonfiction book by Charles Pellegrino tells the story of those who survived the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some of whom survived both blasts. Cameron himself reportedly took a day off from the press tour for Avatar to meet with one of the last living survivor of both blasts, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who was in the hospital from stomach cancer and died Monday at 93. At this point, however, it’s not known whether he will be writing, directing, or producing, only that he has  bought the rights himself (he has the money).

As someone who is a great admirer of Cameron’s work, including Avatar, I’m up for anything he’s willing to do. One likely scenario is that this is simply a documentary in development, being a translation of the book. He could direct, like Ghosts of the Abyss or Aliens of the Deep, or simply produce like that Jesus-tomb doc he did a few years ago. Either narrative or documentary, it seems like an interesting project to look forward to, and hopefully it isn’t a bomb (good God, I’m sorry…).

What do you think of Cameron tackling a Hiroshima story? Would you rather see a documentary or narrative feature?