Director James Cameron: 'Morons' at BP turned me down

James Cameron, the director of blockbuster films such as Titanic, The Abyss, The Terminator and Avatar, can return to his deadly female cyborg script now that the "morons" at BP have turned down his offer to help with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

"Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference, Reuters reports.

Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."

His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.

Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.

He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."

Cameron and another Canadian who built submersibles for the director's 1989 thriller "The Abyss" joined talks on Tuesday in Washington on innovative ways of capping the Gulf oil spill.

Cameron and Phil Nuytten, head of North Vancouver-based Nuytco Research, were to join several deepwater and oil sector experts meeting with Environmental Protection Agency officials, a spokeswoman for Nuytco told AFP.

No details of their talks were immediately available.

After failing to plug the leak with mud, BP has moved on to a plan to cut the leaking pipe and seal it with a tight cap. The company said this latest effort could stem the gushing oil within 24 hours.

The company is also drilling two relief wells, but these are not expected to be ready until August.

Nuytten is a diving pioneer who conceived of a rotary joint technology used in his company's renowned Newtsuit and other diving suits used in underwater exploration and rescues.

(with additional reporting by AFP)