Why did you ditch big movies for all these TV and IMAX projects?
After ''Titanic,'' I was like, okay, I don't need to be paid for a while, so maybe I'll do all the other things I want to do. And now I have a problem with turning away from all those other things to focus on a film for a year. Whatever film I do has to have an extraordinary idea, plus it has to be technologically challenging. I read so many scripts where I was just bored to death, so I had to write my next film myself. In fact, the next three films I'm directing I've already written. So I haven't been sitting on my hands for the last couple of years, you know.
But you could have done the proposed sequel to ''True Lies'' and ''Terminator 3.''
I turned down ''Terminator 3'' because the reason to make that film was to cash in on the franchise. I'd told my story. With ''True Lies,'' there was a draft of the script that another writer had written, and it never really gelled. And the idea of a domestic comedy about an anti-terrorism unit didn't seem that funny after 9/ 11.
You've also been busy working on this 3-D system, which Robert Rodriguez is using for ''Spy Kids 3.'' Who else is getting on board with 3-D?
I know other directors have expressed interest, but I don't know if they have concrete plans. And right now, I don't even have enough of the cameras to meet my own needs, between the documentaries and the feature I'm working on. But we do want more filmmakers making 3-D films, because then exhibitors have the inventive to install 3-D projection. And when I make my big 3-D feature, I want to have as many screens as possible.
What's going on with your space exploration films?
We actually created this 3-D system for a movie about a fictional mission to Mars, but that's been pushed back. And there was a documentary where we were going to go to the Mir space station, but then it was de-orbited. We also wanted to work with NASA, but then there was the Columbia tragedy, and realistically NASA doesn't need filmmakers cluttering up their space station manifest right now. But I'm still interested in all of these projects. As much as I love oceanography, it's nothing compared to space exploration.
Can you give us the dish on your next feature?
It's in the planning stages right now, and we're going to be shooting early first quarter of next year. I'd prefer not to let anyone know anything about it until they run the TV spots, but that probably won't be the case. Operational security has to be a big deal now because of the Internet. I just don't like the idea that somebody else gets to yank back the curtain on my movie. So I'm not going to tell anyone what it is, what it's about, or give anybody a script. It will be in 3-D, so that much I can say. And my next documentary is about hydrothermal vents. It sounds boring, but it's really cool.
