TO DIVE OR NOT TO DIVE? FOR CAMERON, IT’S BOTH

On the same day that it was announced that James Cameron would be replaced by Martin Campbell as director of The Dive, reports emerged that Cameron was himself poised to embark on a dive of historic significance. The Titanic director, in a one-person submersible machine named the Mermaid Sapphire, is about to descend nearly seven miles into the Earth’s deepest abyss, the Mariana Trench, in hopes of producing a 3D documentary showing a part of the world that has never been seen before and to collect living creatures, rocks, water and sediment using a robotic arm. His vessel is equipped with four 3D cameras and lights capable of illuminating an area of nearly 100 feet. Meanwhile, it was reported that Cameron’s movie The Dive would get a new director because Cameron himself was too busy with other projects, including an upcoming sequel to Avatar. The Dive, regarded as “passion project” for Cameron, concerns a real-life couple who set out to set a world record for a free dive. (For one, the competition ended tragically.) Another film, The Big Blue , directed by Luc Besson, about a remarkably similar dive was produced in 1988, starring Jean Reno, Jean-Marc Barr and Rosanna Arquette.