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 Tightly crammed into the tiny capsule of a vertical-diving
submarine, the director of Hollywood's highest grossing films,
"Avatar" and "Titanic," plunged 35,787 feet (10,908 meters) to
the deepest known place on Earth in the Mariana Trench in the
Pacific Ocean.
"Curiosity is the most important thing in my life," said
Cameron, 59, whose team of experts designed and built the
equipment to dive to the ocean's depths, photograph its
fascinating creatures and gather samples for scientists.
"Part of it for me is the excitement of the engineering. Part of
it is the excitement of physically going and seeing something
that I know no human being has ever seen," he said in New York
after a screening of the film that opens in U.S. theaters on
Friday.
The dive in 2012 was the culmination of a seven-year project and
the realization of a boyhood fantasy. Cameron had been
enthralled with exploration since reading about French
oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and was also inspired by the
historic dive of Lt. Don Walsh of the U.S. Navy and Swiss
oceanographer Jacques Piccard half a century earlier.
The 1960 Mariana Trench dive, the first to explore the deepest
ocean depths, is depicted in the film. Walsh was also with
Cameron as he began his dive.
Cameron admitted being nervous, although once he was bolted into
the capsule and the 24-foot-long (7.3 meter-long) submarine was
lowered from a ship into the dark, stormy water during the
dangerous night dive the overwhelming emotion was excitement.
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But at one point during the two and a half hour, nearly seven-mile
descent Cameron said he thought, "This might be the dumbest idea I
have ever had."
Deep sea exploration is a passion for Cameron. He wanted to make the
1997 blockbuster "Titanic," which won 11 Oscars including best
director, so he could explore the remains of the luxury ocean liner
that sank in 1912.
"Deepsea Challenge 3D" follows Cameron and his team in Australia as
they test the submarine, which he financed and co-designed, making
sure it could withstand the tremendous pressure of the ocean's
depths.
The film captures the harrowing test dives and the tragic deaths of
two crew members in a helicopter accident that nearly derailed the
project.
Cameron, who is back on land working on the "Avatar" sequels, spent
three hours exploring the ocean floor and hopes to go back.
"My ultimate dream is to be able to have a vehicle that is connected
by fiber optics to the surface at those depths, so you can come to a
place like this and actually watch in real time while we are
exploring on the bottom of the ocean. That would be really cool," he
said.
(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
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