James Cameron slams ‘offensive’ rumours of making any film on Titan submersible tragedy

Los Angeles, July 16 (IANS) ‘Titanic’ director James Cameron has shot down the ‘offensive’ rumours that he will be making a film on the recent Titan submersible tragedy which was reported by several U.K publishers.

As reported by 'The Hollywood Reporter', The Sun had first reported the anonymously sourced story which claimed that the Oscar-winning director was in talks with a major streamer to helm a movie or series about the ill-fated final Titan voyage, which claimed the lives of five people.

Taking to Twitter, the ‘Avatar’ director said, “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 source at The Sun had earlier reported, “The Titan disaster is already being looked at as a major series for one of the world’s biggest streamers — and James is first choice for director. It is a subject close to his heart. He told the story of the Titanic so compassionately it feels like a natural step for him to take this on.”

The source added, “Retracing the steps of those on board the Titan is a massive undertaking but there would be a lot of time, money and resources dedicated to it.”

The story further claimed that Cameron was trying to line up A-listers such as Matt Damon for the series.

According to 'THR', After the tragedy unfolded last month, Cameron – an expert in deep-sea submersibles – gave several interviews articulating what went wrong from a technical standpoint.

Cameron told ABC News at the time, "Many people in the community were concerned about this sub and even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental and what they were doing needed to be certified".

He added, "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 died as a result. It’s a very similar tragedy at the exact same site. It’s astonishing and really quite surreal".

Cameron noted that as a submersible designer himself he understands the technicalities and many of the challenges required to make such a craft work safely and successfully. He also defended the practice of deep-sea diving as a whole.

In addition, Cameron had told BBC News that he knew the entire venture was doomed from the start after the news of its disappearance first broke loose.