Horrible Helicopter Crash In Australia Claims Lives Of Andrew Wight And Mike deGruy

I received an email 6 hours ago from one of our awesome readers in Australia (thanks Shaun) that pointed me to a tragic story on News.com.au. Andrew Wight (51, writer / producer, SANCTUM, pictured with Cameron) and Mike deGruy (60, award winning cinematographer, pictured below) both died at the scene of a terrible helicopter crash shortly after taking off from an airport near Berry Saturday afternoon. They were off to scout locations at Jervis Bay for an upcoming documentary. Wight was piloting the flight.

If Wight's name sounds familiar maybe it's because of his $100m movie SANCTUM or because I just posted about him becoming the head of the Cameron | Pace Group's Australian office. He helped develop the 3D technology behind AVATAR. James Cameron has worked with Wight since their documentary on the Titanic in 2000.

Underwater cimenatography specialist deGruy recently tweeted: "Been in Australia 2 weeks, one to go then off to PNG. Love this place - especially Sydney on Australia Day."

PNG = Papua, New Guinea (?) which potentially means James Cameron's documentary which he plans to shoot at the bottom of the pacific, a belief echoed by the Daily Telegraph.

deGruy's website reads: "Mike has dived under the ice at both poles, been to all continents, become a submersible pilot, dived hundreds of times in many types of submersibles, filmed the hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and the Pacific and had more meals on the Titanic, now resting at 12,500 feet deep, than did the doomed passengers."

James Cameron has spoken out about the horrible loss: "Mike and Andrew were like family to me. They were my deep-sea brothers and both were true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being had been."

Andrew Grierson (Director of SANCTUM) said the Australian film industry has lost of its most dynamic filmmakers: "He was coming at film-making from a different angle. He was the most entrepreneurial film maker in the country, he's a great loss. In a lot of ways he was more than a producer; he was an expedition leader."

Wight was from Victoria, Australia and deGruy was from Santa Barbara, CA. Andrew Wight is survived by his wife Monica and his one-year-old son Ted. Mike deGruy is survived by his wife Mimi, his son Max and his daughter Frances. An investigation is underway as to the cause of the accident. There are images of the crash scene, but I feel it is out of place to post them.

Our deepest condolences to the families of these two fine filmmakers.

Sources: news.com.au | dailytelegraph.com.au

Wayfare Breathes Life Into 3D Underwater Survival Drama SANCTUM

Jim here. SANCTUM promises to be a very intriguing project. Just after the low budget and Peter Jackson produced DISTRICT 9 was released to much acclaim we learn that SANCTUM has gotten $30 million financing from Wayfare Entertainment. James Cameron will executive produce.

The underwater survival drama will be using the FUSION 3D camera system (photos) invented by Vince Pace and James Cameron. Wise move. There is no one better in the world in underwater 3D. Expect the production to begin shooting in Australia in Q4 this year with Vince Pace most likely as DP (I have an email into Vince inquiring about this).

Another similarity with DISTRICT 9 is that the relatively unknown Alister Grierson (KOKODA) will direct the movie under the guidance and technology of an industry power player. Obviously the intent is to duplicate the overwhelming success.

Andrew Wight (GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS, ALIENS OF THE DEEP) co-wrote and will produce. John Garvin co-wrote as well.

From Variety: "Sanctum" is a fictional drama inspired by Wight's near-death experience when he led an expedition of 15 divers into a remote underwater cave system below Australia's Nullarbor Plain, and then watched a freak storm collapse the cave entrance. It became a two-day battle to survive until all 15 were rescued, an ordeal recounted in the 1989 docu "Nullarbor Dreaming."

In "Sanctum," a hard-edged father and his teen son lead a diving team, and the true character of the divers surfaces when they are faced with adversity."

As one who was nearly killed in that cave collapse, I thought there was great stuff in how people react in crisis, and become heroes or cowards," Wight told Daily Variety. "Jim and I spoke about all this while working on these 3-D adventure projects, and we had a burning desire to make a gritty film about what it's like to be on an expedition and have it all go horribly wrong. We wanted to show that the 3-D equipment and technology can be used to tell a story in a modest budget independent film."

We can expect more such ventures from Cameron. He obviously is taking a strong approach to ensuring their is plenty of 3D movies in the pipeline for distributors to make the call to changeover to digital 3D. This is yet another underwater 3D drama from Cameron/Pace with the other being his THE DIVE project which he will be directing. I have to say that I would not want these films under anyone else's influence - the man knows submerged filmmaking.