In a 1997 interview with Charlie Rose, Cameron revealed the Titanic bug bit him whereas researching remotely operated submersibles for “The Abyss” (i.e. Large Geek and Little Geek). He was assembly with famed oceanographer Robert Ballard, who found the rusting stays of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985.

In keeping with Cameron, “[Ballard] nonetheless had not gotten over Titanic, and he wished to point out me his tapes of how they found it, and so forth. So this little an infection began proper there. I had the germ, and I did not understand it. It was incubating.”

Cameron’s pursuits are many, and his curiosity is insatiable. That germ took root, and it grew like kudzu. As he informed Rose:

“[I]’ve at all times beloved historical past, particularly the antiquities: historical Rome and Greece […] however all historical past, actually. And so I began studying up on the historical past of Titanic, not simply the physicality of the wreck and the excessive expertise of discovering it, however … you recognize, who have been these individuals? And what did they expertise? And it turned to me such an interesting story, because it has for many individuals who get sucked into the vortex of Titanic.”

There was one final little bit of inspiration lurking within the deep for Cameron, and it sparked his curiosity within the IMAX format.