Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm-Chapter 471 - 472: Movies Are Just a Side Business, Fake 3D

James: Full name James Wan,

Whannell: Full name Leigh Whannell.

Both were 27 years old. After spending years struggling in Australia, they decided to take on Hollywood.

But while their dreams were ambitious, reality was harsh.

They arrived in Hollywood with their completed Saw script, submitting it to numerous studios and film funds, yet received no promising responses.

Chances were, their script was just collecting dust in some executive's trash bin.

Lionsgate had at least spoken to them, but once they insisted on James Wan directing the film, the discussions went cold.

"Should we try sending it to Myers Pictures?"

The newspaper headline was blindingly flashy: The World's Wealthiest Super Genius—Martin Myers—to Take the SATs.

At just 16 or 17, the guy was already among the world's top ten richest people. Meanwhile, James and Whannell were pushing 30 and teetering on homelessness. The gap between people was just unfair.

Still, the article sparked an idea in Whannell. Maybe this so-called genius would actually appreciate their script.

"We never sent Saw to Myers Pictures?" James Wan asked in surprise.

"I don't think so..." Whannell looked a bit embarrassed. He had been in charge of submissions, but maybe—just maybe—seeing Martin's name constantly splashed across every newspaper had triggered a rebellious instinct in him. He had deliberately skipped Myers Pictures.

"Why not?" James sat up straight.

"Uh... I forgot?"

"Shit, get up! We're sending it now."

James yanked Whannell off the couch.

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...

"Hey, Jim."

From afar, Martin spotted James Cameron, clad in work overalls, tinkering with a large machine.

"Hey, Martin. What brings you here?"

"To continue our last conversation," Martin replied.

Cameron's eyes lit up.

The two had last spoken at Lost in Translation's premiere, where Martin had expressed interest in investing in Avatar.

Cameron had conceived Avatar as early as 1995, and within industry circles, it wasn't exactly a secret.

"That's great! I thought you were just making conversation."

Cameron tossed his tools aside and was about to lead Martin elsewhere when Martin pointed curiously at a large, circular machine. "What's that?"

Rather than getting annoyed, Cameron's face lit up with excitement.

"This is a one-man submersible—one of my prized possessions. I used it to dive down and search for Titanic's wreckage. Look at it. Isn't it beautiful?"

As he spoke, he ran his hand lovingly across the machine's rough surface, as if caressing a lover.

Martin didn't see anything particularly attractive about the submersible, but it did remind him of Cameron's deep-sea obsession.

In the original timeline, on March 26, 2012, this man piloted a submersible solo to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, becoming the first person in history to reach Earth's deepest point alone.

He successfully descended 10,972.8 meters to the Challenger Deep and conducted a series of exploratory studies.

At that time, he was already 58 years old.

It was an astonishing feat.

To put it into perspective:

Twelve people have walked on the moon. Over 500 have been to space. But only three have ever reached the deepest part of the ocean.

The deep sea is as mysterious as outer space.

After his successful descent, Cameron had described it as "like the surface of the moon—desolate and lonely." He had felt "completely cut off from the rest of humanity."

"It felt like I had traveled to another planet and returned," he had said.

Why had so few attempted such a deep dive? Because it was incredibly dangerous.

For ordinary divers, the maximum safe depth was about 20 meters. Professional divers could push it to 40 meters.

At 40 meters below sea level, the water pressure was already 4.9 atmospheres.

To put that into perspective:

That's like having over 400 adult men pressing down on your body.

The greatest obstacle and danger of deep-sea diving is pressure.

At 10,000 meters below, the pressure reaches 1,097 atmospheres.

For comparison, imagine flipping the Eiffel Tower upside down and balancing it on your toe.

At this depth, seawater can tear through HY-80 steel hulls with ease. A human body? It would be crushed into pulp in just two milliseconds.

To reach these depths, Cameron spent seven years and an astronomical $35,000 per day to hire a professional team and design a deep-sea submersible capable of withstanding the crushing pressure.

Despite all that, it took him ten attempts before he successfully reached the Challenger Deep on his final dive.

And he stayed there for over three hours.

During his time on the ocean floor, he observed a barren yet breathtaking landscape and collected 68 new material samples.

His expedition laid the groundwork for humanity's continued exploration of the unknown deep sea.

Frankly, for this man, filmmaking was just a side job—a way to fund his deep-sea adventures.

For the first time, Martin found himself respecting this old man, who was passionately rambling about his underwater exploits.

"...It's like my child, you know? I handcrafted many of its components myself..."

"Sorry, Martin. I get carried away when talking about diving."

"No worries. It's actually really interesting."

"Oh, really? Then I'll take you diving sometime. The world beneath the waves is incredible."

"Maybe someday," Martin chuckled, but the idea intrigued him.

Any true artist was fueled by curiosity, and that included demons and elves alike.

Finally, they settled in a lounge area and got down to business.

"You know," Cameron began, "the world's first 3D movie was The Power of Love in 1922. But I suspect that was just a fake 3D film. From what I've read, they achieved the effect using gimmicks like pointing guns at the audience or throwing objects toward the screen."