He conquered it in The Abyss, it killed off his hero in Titanic, he plans to set the second Avatar instalment in it… and now James Cameron continues his love affair with the ocean later this month, this time in real life. It’s every aquaphobe’s worst nightmare, but a near-miss with the hull of the real Titanic during shooting of the film seems to have done nothing to dampen the director’s passion for vast volumes of water.
Having previously set the record for deep submarine diving, Cameron now plans to better his own depth by descending to the very deepest place on the planet, the Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Sponsored by National Geographic and Rolex, Cameron will descend almost 11 kilometres under the surface of the ocean to film the depths (in 3D, no less) and collect samples from the sea floor.
“When you’re making a movie, everybody’s read the script and they know what’s going to happen next,” Cameron explained. “When you’re on an expedition, nature hasn’t read the script, the ocean hasn’t read the script, and no one knows what’s going to happen next.” You can say that again, Jim.
Whether or not he expects to find the Heart of the Ocean is anyone’s guess.
