Policy

James Cameron Is The Nuclear Option

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Proving once again that the only way to make it in government is to be as boring as possible, the Obama administration has ruled out the use of a nuclear weapon to plug BP's leaking oil well. Talk about avoiding political fallout! Anyone living along the Gulf Coast who was hoping to reenact that scene in True Lies where Ahnuld smooches Jamie Lee Curtis while a mushroom cloud of love blooms oh-so-cinematically in the background is going to be pretty disappointed. But maybe not that disappointed: Who needs nukes when you've got the advice of the King of the World himself, James Cameron? That's right!

Film director James Cameron said he hopes he can bring together some of the top experts in deep-sea work to help craft a solution to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The director of "Avatar" and "Titanic" said he was moved to action after days of watching the oil well spew uncontrollably and successive attempts to cap it failed.

"I was watching with growing horror thinking, 'Those morons don't know what they're doing,'" said Cameron, speaking at the All Things Digital conference Wednesday evening.

His work on the film "Titanic," he said, gave him exposure to some of the world's top experts who work in deep-sea environments. That started him thinking that those trying to stop the oil flow didn't have the right skill set.

"Wait a minute," he said, "I know a lot of people who work in deep submergence … They know the engineering that's required to work at that depth."

He contacted the Environmental Protection Agency about his plan. "I thought let's get all the people I know together for a brainstorming session," he said.

No word yet on whether Cameron will be bringing in an army of submersible mechs, or what roles Bill Paxton and Sigourney Weaver will play. But I'm guessing that Michael Bay, who once made a movie that was actually about a deep-water drilling crew sent to stop a catastrophe with a nuke, is jealous.