James Cameron Punched A Safety Diver In The Face To Save Himself From Drowning While Filming 'The Abyss'

SOURCE - “At that point it was almost check out point and the safety divers are taught to hold you down so you don’t embolize and let your lungs overexpand going up. But I knew what I was doing. And he wouldn’t let me go, and I had no way to tell him the regulator wasn’t working. So I punched him in the face and swam to the surface and therefore survived.”

I saw this headline and audibly went "WHAT?"  So basically, James Cameron had to film some parts of 'The Abyss' underwater. This was filmed in the 1980s, so they didn't have the same technology that they do now. Cameron said, "We were working 30 feet down. For me to be able to move the camera around on the bottom I wore heavy weights around my feet, no fins, a heavy weight belt around my waist.” That is FUCKING WILD. James Cameron is an absolute madman, but wow is he dedicated to his craft. When James when deep diving, his oxygen tank failed him. Cameron said he was able to remove his equipment but then a safety diver came to try and help him. 

He said the oxygen tank they were trying to give him had a rip in the diaphragm of the regulator. I have no idea what that means but like I understand. So when he was trying to breathe, he was just inhaling water. The safety diver didn't understand that that was happening so they were holding him down. So Cameron PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE and swam to the surface. So if being a safety diver wasn't a crazy enough job, you also have to worry about the guy you are diving with potentially knocking you out underwater. Wild stuff.

It's kinda crazy because the article says nothing about if the safety diver was okay or not. The point remains that James Cameron is an absolute lunatic when it comes to the films he directs. He truly goes above and beyond for his movies and this has to be one of the wildest thing someone has done while shooting. Who knows if this story is true or if he is just trying to seem like a badass. All I know is I wouldn't fuck with James Cameron.