Jania Ashlynn
Bill Paxton had a genuine fear of the Titanic submersible dives. It’s a sentiment that takes on a somber tone in light of the tragic incident involving a tourist submersible. Looking back at an interview from 2003, the late actor openly admitted feeling apprehensive about venturing deep into the ocean to witness the remains of the iconic ship.
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Unease
The talented late actor, known for his role as Brock Lovett in Titanic, spoke with ET previously ahead of his film Ghosts of the Abyss. This fascinating documentary features renowned director James Cameron sharing his inspiration for the movie and taking Paxton and other individuals on an unforgettable, impromptu journey through the wreckage.
“Each dive, I had to kind of look myself in the mirror and go ‘OK, are you ready for this?'” Paxton, who passed in 2017, shared with ET, “It’s one of those things where Jim [Cameron] asked me in passing to go and…the opportunity of a lifetime. I jumped at it.”
“But then you start thinking about physically what’s going to be required of you to get into a three-man, deep-sea Russian submersible for a 13-hour dive,” he continued. “To go down two and a half miles to a place where the sun has never penetrated. And you’re starting to think ‘OK, I’ve got young kids. I need to get them to an age where they can support themselves before I do something this crazy.'”
Taking Risks
Paxton still made the choice to take on the adventure. “Jim is an infectious guy. And also, God, who wouldn’t go on this adventure?” being
He recounted his experience from inside the submersible “relatively comfortable,” before stating that “certainly there are things that can go wrong.”
“If they do go wrong, it’s not going to matter anyway. And it’s going to happen so quickly that you’re not even gonna know it happened, probably,” he shared. “These are the thoughts you have going in.”
