By Ben Travis, Nick De Semlyen | Posted 30 Nov 2018

Having already shot a documentary seven miles down in the ocean depths in a solo submarine, it seems only natural that James Cameron could someday end up blasting off into space to film something among the stars. In fact, it’s something that almost happened over a decade ago – in his latest Empire interview to celebrate Empire 30, taking on questions from readers, Cameron claimed he was planning to go to the International Space Station and shoot a movie with none other than Hollywood’s other greatest daredevil, Tom Cruise.

“I actually talked to [Cruise] about doing a space film in space, about 15 years ago,” Cameron told Empire. “I had a contract with the Russians in 2000 to go to the International Space Station and shoot a high-end 3D documentary there. And I thought, ‘Shit, man, we should just make a feature.’ I said, ‘Tom, you and I, we’ll get two seats on the Soyuz, but somebody’s gotta train us as engineers.’ Tom said, ‘No problem, I’ll train as an engineer.’ We had some ideas for the story, but it was still conceptual.”

Read the full People Vs. James Cameron interview in the new issue of Empire, on sale now and available online here.

Also inside you’ll find a personal essay from Cameron exclusively for Empire as well as a delve into the 20-year journey to make Alita: Battle Angel. Head this way to read our online tribute to Cameron, and we’ve got fresh news on those long-awaited True Lies and The Abyss Blu-ray releases here.

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