- Content: James Cameron Slams ‘Offensive Rumors’ About Involvement In OceanGate Movie
By Movieguide® Contributor
TITANIC director James Cameron recently denied claims that he is making a movie about the tragic OceanGate submersible accident.
“I don’t respond to offensive rumors in the media usually, but I need to now. I’m NOT in talks about an OceanGate film, nor will I ever be,” the AVATAR director tweeted.
OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded earlier this summer while diving to see the wreckage of the Titanic. The vessel’s crew—OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood—all died in the accident.
Cameron might not be making a movie about the accident, but the director, who has made 33 trips to see the Titanic wreckage, has shared his thoughts on what went wrong for OceanGate.
“I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn’t have gotten in that sub,” he said, adding that he and others in the deep submarine diving community had written a letter to OceanGate saying they believed the company was headed towards “catastrophe.”
Movieguide® reported further on Cameron’s comments:
James Cameron, director of the movie THE TITANIC and experienced deep-sea explorer, shared his thoughts on the Titan Submersible tragedy that has claimed the attention of the world.
In critique over the tragedy, Cameron stated to NPR the eerie similarities between the captain of the Titanic and Oceangate founder and victim of the disaster, Stockton Rush.
“I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet, he steamed up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, and many people died as a result. And for a very similar tragedy, where warnings went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think it’s just astonishing, it’s really quite surreal,” Cameron said.
In the wake of the accident, OceanGate announced it was suspending “all exploration and commercial operations” and took down all social media pages.
Movieguide® previously reported on Discovery Channel’s Josh Gates’s decision to turn down the opportunity to visit the Titanic wreckage with OceanGate.
Discovery Channel explorer Josh Gates revealed why he turned down the opportunity to visit the Titanic wreckage with OceanGate.
“I had the unique opportunity to dive in the OceanGate Titan sub with [company CEO] Stockton [Rush] at the helm in preparation for its maiden mission to Titanic,” he shared. “To those asking, Titan did not perform well on my dive…”
Gates continued, “Ultimately, I walked away from a huge opportunity to film Titanic due to my safety concerns with the OceanGate platform. There’s more to the history and design of Titan that has not been made public — much of it concerning.”
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