it was like getting launched into space except it is interspace. >> take me back to the beginning and canada. was this idea of being an explorer deep inside of you as a young boy? >> i think it emerged from my fascination with the natural world. i used to be out -- i was surrounded by woods. i would be out there catching frogs and snakes. they got me in a microscope for christmas, maybe 10 years old. i started to look to pond water and seeing all of the microorganisms that live there. to me, it was endlessly fascinating, the natural world. that leads to -- they say exploration is just curiosity acted upon. you want to go and look with your own eyes. >> but you got sidelined by the movies. >> in college i could not decide between science, i was studying physics and astronomy, and that was a quest to understand the natural world and the arts. i became a lit major. the narrative drive was there as well. that took over. that is when i became a filmmaker. >> you wrote something called "the abyss." >> in high school. >> a short story. it was about scientists who are leaving a submerged spac