Rebuffed

James Cameron Feels Ignored

Says gov’t should have heeded his oil-spill advice.

Director James Cameron says he gave the government the right advice for cleaning up the Gulf oil spill, but his report was ignored because he’s a “Hollywood guy.” The Avatar director says he assembled a 23-person team—“all the crème de la crème of the deep-submergence community”—and offered a 25-page report to the Department of Energy and Coast Guard. Cameron says he pitched in because BP had too much of a say in the crisis. But he claims his expert advice was ignored. Because “BP was giving [the government] a line of shit every single day and they were believing it,” Cameron says, as well as “because the source of the report was contaminated in their minds because there was a Hollywood guy involved.” The director says his team offered the same solution to plug the well, 60 days before it was finally shut.