James Cameron visited the wreck of the Titanic 33 times; see what the director said about the expedition

James Cameron is not only one of Hollywood’s most successful directors, he is also a lover of deep sea exploration. These paths crossed in two of his biggest hits, “Avatar” and “Titanic”.

While Cameron has not publicly commented on the current search for the submersible OceanGate, which was conducting an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic with five people on board, he has personally made 33 dives to the site.

A CNN reached representatives for Cameron for comment.

See below for what the director has said in the past about exploration.

In 2009, the director said his motivation for making the 1997 hit was not an onboard love story.

“I did ‘Titanic’ because I wanted to dive down to the wreck,” he said. “The Titanic was the Mount Everest of shipwrecks, and as a diver I wanted to do it right.”

“When I heard that other guys had dived on the Titanic to make an IMAX movie, I said, ‘I’m going to make a Hollywood movie to pay for an expedition and do the same thing. I loved that first taste and wanted more,” she declared.

At a press conference, which the CNN participated, this year, the filmmaker said he has always been in love with the ocean. Before becoming a director, he was a scuba diver – which he continues to do to this day, taking advantage of the money he made from the production.

The filmmaker worked at the Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole – the site made famous by the discovery and initial exploration of the Titanic. There, he witnessed the technological discoveries being made to penetrate the ocean.

With these artifacts, he was able to explore the interior of the Titanic ship.

Going beyond the depths of the Titanic, Cameron has made dozens of deep sea dives since filming “Titanic ”.

In 2012, he dove into the Mariana Trench, considered one of the deepest points in the Earth’s oceans, nearly 11 kilometers below the surface.

He did this in a 24-foot submersible vehicle he designed, called the Deepsea Challenger, and took cameras to document the entire western Pacific journey.

In a National Geographic video and essay, he described the experience: “I went like a shot, the fastest I’ve ever seen. The surface just receded. He just walked away. The sub is going like a bat out of hell. It surpassed the depth of the Titanic.”

When he reached 27,000 feet, which was the deepest depth Cameron said he had dived before, he was still 9,000 feet short of reaching the ocean floor.

As he continued to dive, Cameron said he reflected on the seven years it took to make the journey and was enjoying the solitude;

“Here I am in the most remote place on planet Earth that it took all this time, energy and technology to get to, and I feel like the loneliest human being on the planet, completely isolated from humanity, with no chance of rescue in a place that human eyes never seen,” said Cameron.

“I call it witnessing. I can testify to a miracle that’s been there all along,” the filmmaker told 60 Minutes Australia in 2018 about his explorations on the high seas.

“This isn’t just a rich guy ego thing. If you’re lucky enough to make some money and have some capital, some working capital, why not put it into your dream?”