James moved from his native Canada to California during his teens and pursued a career in the film industry, during which he has often incorporated his passion for diving. After making his international mark with 1984’s The Terminator, which he wrote and directed, he wrote and directed Aliens, which became a huge box office hit.

Aliens gave James serious Hollywood clout and he embraced the challenges of underwater movie making with The Abyss, released in 1989. One technical highlight, which interested divers around the world, was his depiction of a diver in a helmet breathing oxygenated liquids.

This was not just science fiction: A successful American research programme actually existed, funded by the USA’s Office of Naval Research, with Dr. Johannes Kylstra as its lead scientist. Kylstra had successfully tested the theory on rodents and dogs, following which commercial diver Frank Falejczyk became the first person to breathe oxygenated liquid. James was so impressed by a subsequent presentation by Falejczyk, he included the concept in his Abyss script. Several senior HDSUSA members, such as Bob Kirby, Pete Romano, Al Giddings, Ralph White and Emory Kristof were involved in the film, and The Abyss brought James to the attention of divers worldwide.

As filmmaking moved into the 1990s, HDSUSA Advisory Board member Andreas Rechnitzer consulted with James on an upcoming project that would make box-office history: Titanic.

James wrote, produced, and directed Titanic, and the production again included several HDSUSA members. Titanic received 11 Academy awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing, and is at time of writing the second highest grossing movie in world history, with receipts of $2,186,800,000.

Passionate about diving, James accepted the invitation of his friend Andreas Rechnitzer to join the Society’s Advisory Board in 2002.