Featured Image Credit: OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott
Topics: Film and TV, Titanic
Jess Hardiman
The tragedy of the OceanGate sub that imploded while on a voyage to the Titanic wreckage is already being made into a movie.
The OceanGate submersible was diving to the wreck site of the Titanic when it suddenly disappeared, losing contact with the pilot ship Polar Prince after about an hour and 45 minutes.
After going missing on 18 June, a huge rescue mission led by the US Coast Guard took place, with debris later found near to the area - around 600km off Newfoundland - that the sub was believed to be in at the time it went missing.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, said that the debris was ‘consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber’, with all five on board confirmed dead.
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According to Deadline, the harrowing story is now being made into a film, which comes from MindRiot Entertainment and producer E. Brian Dobbins (The Blackening, Black-ish).
The outlet reports that the film will be co-written by MindRiot’s Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey, saying it understands the feature’s ‘scope will cover periods before, during, and after the five-day tragedy’.
Keasey, a licensed lawyer-turned filmmaker, said: “The Titan Tragedy is yet another example of a misinformed and quick-to-pounce system, in this case, our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process.
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“Our film will not only honor all those involved in the submersible tragedy, and their families, but the feature will serve as a vessel that also addresses a more macro concern about the nature of media today.”
He added: “Truth is all that matters. And the world has a right to know the truth, always, not the salacious bait crammed down our throats by those seeking their five minutes of fame. Life is not black and white. It’s complicated. There’s nuance. Always nuance.”
The movie will be part of MindRiot’s forthcoming slate of docu-series projects, including one about Seattle’s underground rap scene that is currently in development.
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It is set to be the first feature film made about the tragedy, with Titanic director James Cameron previously quick to shut down rumors that he would be making one.
“I don’t respond to offensive rumors in the media usually, but I need to now,” Cameron wrote in a post on Twitter at the time, adding: “I’m NOT in talks about an OceanGate film, nor will I ever.”