OceanGate Titan sub disaster movie in the offing
The Titan submersible tragedy that drew global attention is set to be made into a movie.
The film, currently called Salvaged, will come from the producer E Brian Dobbins, whose most recent credit was this summer’s comedy horror The Blackening. He is working alongside MindRiot Entertainment, a company also making a docuseries about Kyle Bingham, the former mission director of OceanGate, the company behind the submersible.
“The Titan tragedy is reminiscent of the space shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986: it’s a tragedy I’ll never forget,” said Justin MacGregor, the group’s head of European content.
The disaster, in which all five men aboard a submersible died after the vessel lost contact with the surface and imploded, became an international news story back in June. The film will reportedly cover “periods before, during, and after the five-day tragedy”, according to Deadline.
Co-writer Jonathan Keasey has said the film will aim to indict “our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process”. 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.”
It was initially rumoured that the director James Cameron would make a film based on the tragedy but he later tweeted that the reports were “offensive” and he would never be involved.
Dobbins is also known for producing TV shows Black-ish, Mixed-ish and Grown-ish as well as Gus Van Sant’s 2015 drama The Sea of Trees.