James Cameron has hit back at claims he's working on a film about the Titanic submarine disaster.
The world was in shock last month when a small submersible carrying five passengers disappeared.
Those passengers were OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, British billionaire Hamish Harding, and French dive expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
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Less than a couple of hours after making its descent to the Titanic wreck at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean the vessel lost contact with the team on the surface.
At the time, it was hoped that the crew would be found, with a huge search and rescue mission launched by the US Coast Guard.
However, on 22 June the tragic news was confirmed that the Titan had suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' and everyone on board had died.
Following the announcement, rumours began circulating that Cameron, who directed the 1998 Oscar winning film Titanic, was working on a movie about the recent disaster.
One alleged insider claimed: "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.
"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."
However, the 68-year-old has now come out and said there is no chance of him working on any kind of film about the Titan sub, and there never was.
Taking to Twitter, Cameron 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."
Cameron, who has made numerous trips down to the Titanic during his career in deep-sea exploration, had previously criticised officials over the rescue operation.
Speaking to CNN, the director said his thoughts were with the familes after hope was ‘dangled’ before them.
In reality, he said, it might have been clear to others that the vessel had been destroyed in the extreme depth and pressure.
The director said: “I watched over the ensuing days, this whole - sort of - everyone running around with their hair on fire search.
“Knowing full well that it was futile. Hoping against hope that I was wrong, but knowing in my bones that I wasn’t.
“It certainly wasn’t a surprise today, and I just feel terrible for all the families that had to go through all these false hopes that kept getting dangled as it played out.”
Topics: Titanic, James Cameron
Dominic Smithers