Written by Georgia Wells
The North-East of England might seem like an unexpected place to have ties with renowned director James Cameron, but a small deep-sea company from Newcastle has strong ties with the Hollywood legend.
20th Century Studios
Avatar 2’s inspiration
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that Avatar 2: The Way of Water is coming to cinemas on December 16th. What you may not know is that the long-awaited sequel has been inspired by the fascinating world of the deep sea thanks to its director, James Cameron.
James Cameron has a lengthy history in deep-sea exploration, being the first person ever to reach the deepest point of our ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, after Don Walsh and Jaques Piccard in 1960. His custom-built submarine Deepsea Challenger, was able to explore the deepest part of our planet for several hours.
20th Century Fox
But what is his connection with a little company in Newcastle?
Armatus Oceanic is a deep-sea consultancy company that specialises in making the deep sea accessible to all via expert storytelling and affordable exploration. Their CEO, is a deep-sea researcher who develops and deploys deep-sea autonomous landers; vehicles that free-fall to the bottom of the ocean loaded with a suite of cameras, sensors and traps. This pioneering technology caught the attention of a certain deep-sea explorer, James Cameron, who connected with Alan on all things ultra deep-sea tech and who later endorsed his book,The Hadal Zone: Life in the Deepest Oceans.
Alan Jamieson - Five Deeps Expedition
James Cameron on The Deep-Sea Podcast
Alongside their joint enthusiasm for deep-sea exploration, James Cameron joined the Armatus team for a guest interview on their lighthearted monthly dive into deep-sea science and technology: The Deep-Sea Podcast, to talk about deep-sea technology (and give away a couple of Avatar 2 spoilers).
“I just felt like I was looking at something absolutely untouched, that no human eyes had ever seen, and I felt, you know, that was a gift” - James Cameron, The Deep-Sea Podcast
20th Century Studios
The episode shows a different side to James Cameron; with his passion for exploration being the driving force behind his work. He considers himself an explorer foremost and sees his directing as a means of sharing his experiences through storytelling. His excitement for marine engineering is infectious and this fascinating insight into his world is captivating. Many of his deep-sea science and engineering ideas are right there on screen in Avatar 2.
“You’re gonna see it in Avatar 2. I had ulterior motives when I was working with the designers.” - James Cameron, The Deep-Sea Podcast
The full-length episode was originally released in February of 2021 but a condensed version of the interview was released just last Friday (9th Dec 2022).
You can listen to the episode via any of the usual podcast platforms or via the podcasts website: