Just over a week ago came the publication of “Tech Noir,” a new 392-page coffee table book (weighing in at nearly seven pounds) collecting nearly fifty years of concept artwork created by filmmaker James Cameron.
From “Terminator” to “Aliens” to “Titanic” and “Avatar,” the book offers plenty of never-seen pieces of concept art, pre-production sketches, storyboards, and technical blueprints created for various projects of his – both produced and unproduced. All of the art is taken from his personal archives and has been curated by Cameron himself.
Recently Space.com spoke with Cameron from his studio in Wellington about the book and one question they asked is one others have been asking for years now – where is a high-definition transfer of “The Abyss”?
In terms of the leftover ‘holy grails’ of films not yet released to 4K, let alone Blu-ray in any form, the last official disc release of the acclaimed ‘special edition’ version of Cameron’s underwater-set 1989 sci-fi drama was a non-anamorphic disc release on DVD nearly twenty years ago.
Over the years both Cameron and the 20th Century Studios’ Home Entertainment division have essentially blamed each other for the release being stalled. In addition, Cameron’s many years-long commitments to the “Avatar” sequels and other projects has not helped.
To date the only HD version out there is a so-so transfer of the less well-regarded theatrical cut which popped up on streaming on HBO and Netflix a while back. Though it’s a start, it’s still a long way from the proper transfer fans want.
Thankfully it sounds like Cameron has done what he need to this year so it should be coming soon. He tells the outlet:
“We finished the transfer and I wanted to do it myself because Mikael [Salomon] did such a beautiful job with the cinematography on that film.
So I just recently finished the high-def transfer a couple of months ago so presumably there’ll be Blu-rays and it will stream with a proper transfer from now on.
I appreciate what you said about the film. It didn’t make much money in its day, but it does seem to be well-liked over time.
Cameron also touched upon how he remains so proud of the film and its visual look thanks to cinematographer Mikael Salomon and design elements by Ron Cobb and Steve Burg:
It is truly, truly gorgeous cinematography. That was before I started to assert myself in terms of lighting and asking the cinematographer to do certain things. I’d compose with the camera and choose the lenses, but I left the lighting to him [Salomon]. He did a remarkable job on that movie that I appreciate better now than I did even as we were making it.
I’d also like to point out that he took one look at the first day’s dailies of the underwater lighting and he went out and learned to scuba dive. He came in the following Monday morning, the worst diver in the world, but he reinvented underwater lighting.
He went for indirect lighting and he got everybody doing things that were not just outside their comfort zone, they’d never even thought of it. Suddenly the underwater shots start to live up to the surface photography.”
For those who’ve never seen it, the film follows a civilian diving team being tasked with locating a lost nuclear submarine along the edge of an abyssal trench. The group is forced to include a bunch of Navy SEALs to help in the rescue, but the investigation reveals the presence of something not of this world living at the base of the trench.
For now, the only legal way to watch any version of the film outside of the original DVDs is that earlier mentioned HD transfer on Starz.
