Film maker and director James Cameron’s love for scuba diving and the water has always shown in not only his recreational activities but even his professional life. Be it in the form of subtle influences he inputs into his movies Avatar or his not so subtle displays of his fondness for water in movies such as Titanic and The Abyss. His most recent scuba diving flick Sanctum gives us another thrilling combination of cave diving where an underwater cave diving team experiences a life-threatening crisis during an expedition to the unexplored and least accessible cave system in the world.
Universal Pictures’ description of the movie is as follows:
“The 3-D action-thriller Sanctum follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea. Master diver Frank McGuire (played by Richard Roxburgh of Moulin Rouge!) has explored the South Pacific’s Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank’s team-including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?”
The movie, directed by Alister Grierson, was shot entirely on location off the Gold Coast in Queensland and in caves in South Australia, as well as at the Village Roadshow Studios. Sanctum employs stunning 3D photography techniques developed to lens the critically acclaimed Avatar and the action-thriller will take audiences on a breathless journey across plunging cliffs and into the farthest reaches of our subterranean world.
The Cast of Sanctum include Richard Roxburgh (of Stealth, Moulin Rouge, Mi-2 fame), Australian actor Rhys Wakefield (Josh) and Alice Parkinson (Victoria) known for her role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and finally Ioan Gruffud (Carl) who we’ve seen in the fantastic four series as Dr.Reed Richards.
The movie was conceived loosely off a real life experience when in 1988, producer and renowned caver Andrew Wight led an expedition to explore and dive into a remote cave system hidden beneath the Nullarbor Plain in Australia. During the course of his trip, a freak storm caused the cave entrance to collapse, leaving 15 people trapped deep underground. A rescue mission was mounted and, incredibly, everyone survived the harrowing ordeal. The experience led Wight to develop Sanctum with his longtime colleague James Cameron, a film inspired by these life changing events.
Preparation for the movie was reported to have been very intense with all of the cast and crew having to learn to scuba dive, use rebreathers, dive in the water tank at night in the pitch dark and do all sorts of other crazy things. In addition to the rock climbing and hours of scuba diving required of most of the cast, Gruffudd (who plays Carl in the movie) also had to learn base jumping for a particular scene.
Santum’s stunt director claimed that the principal performers had to complete a scuba-diving open-water course and were placed straight onto the rebreathers. A team of experienced cave divers spent weeks working with the actors to help build their confidence and improve their buoyancy. After they mastered their basic safety drills and buoyancy techniques, they were introduced to ancillary equipment—such as the helmet, full-face mask, lights, stage cylinders, reels… and even diver propulsion vehicles (DPV’s) .
Sanctum is set to release in IMAX and 3D theatres on February the 4th, and we’re sure that this film will be a must watch especially for Scuba divers.
