James Cameron has visited the wreckage of the Titanic more than 30 times and directed an Oscar-winning romance about the doomed vessel — but he’s not planning on exploring the latest disaster connected to the ship that couldn’t sink. The director has denied rumors that he is in talks to helm a feature about the OceanGate submarine that is believed to have imploded on a deep sea voyage to explore the Titanic wreck, killing its five passengers.
“I don’t respond to offensive rumors in the media usually, but I need to now,” James Cameron wrote in a blunt post on Twitter Saturday morning. “I’m NOT in talks about an OceanGate film, nor will I ever.”
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.
— James Cameron (@JimCameron) July 15, 2023
It’s not necessarily surprising that some would believe that Cameron would become attached to an OceanGate film. The 68-year-old filmmaker has become a public expert on all things Titanic since he was in production on his 1997 epic. After authorities discovered “likely human remains” from the Titan submersible, Cameron appeared for an interview on ABC News to criticize OceanGate and offer his thoughts on the disaster.
“A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that it needed to be certified,” Cameron said. “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 at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result. For us, it’s a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded.”
In June, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered new debris around the Titanic shipwreck. Within hours, it was confirmed that those onboard the missing Titan submersible were believed to have died in a “catastrophic implosion” of the vessel.
Cameron, of course, has his hands full with the population of Pandora, currently tinkering away on a third “Avatar” entry after the superlative box office success of “The Way of Water.” The threequel is set to hit theaters on Dec. 19, 2025, with two more follow-ups slated to follow after.
