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Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy is the portrait of an incredible man—his legacyas an artist and storyteller, and his inspirational mission for protecting the oceans
Written by ROGER DURLING
What’s important for me is to share Mike’s sense of wonder and joy,” says filmmaker Mimi deGruy about her documentary Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy. “I want people to be able to access that wonder and joy in themselves.” For some of us in Santa Barbara, the world crumbled in February 2012 when Mike deGruy—renowned underwater cinematographer, documentarian, and environmentalist died in a tragic helicopter crash. Mimi—a filmmaker in her own right—spent the last seven years in an editing room going through her husband’s three decades of award-winning footage exploring the oceans. The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film saying, “The movie turns out to be more than a hometown event. It is a beautifully filmed documentary with some amazing underwater footage (much of it shot by deGruy himself), and it also succeeds as a touching personal reminiscence and as an understated but effective environmental manifesto.”
Mike diving into the Pacific Ocean wearing the Newtsuit.
Mimi and Mike in the Bahamas.
Filming on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
To deep dive into the oceans and into our own personal relationships requires courage and faith. It’s important to do that before it’s too late.
After Santa Barbara and Montecito’s last turbulent year, I was inspired by Mimi’s buoyancy, and I strongly felt that her film would be the perfect way to start this past year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Mike deGruy had been the person who had encouraged me to take the reins of our film festival. A Montecito resident, Mike had told me that we needed to make arts education the heart of the festival’s vision, and he pioneered Field Trip to the Movies, where more than 4,000 students from Title 1 schools attend master classes on filmmaking at the Arlington Theatre. The way Mike influenced me is not unique. He affected everyone he met.
At first glance, Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy is the portrait of an incredible man—his legacy as an artist and storyteller, and his inspirational mission for protecting the oceans. Yet what I find most compelling is Mimi deGruy’s trajectory. She has found in her pain a way to dig into her husband’s work, into their shared memories, and into their personal relationship to create an artistic testament to the power of resilience, passion, stubbornness, and fearlessness. “To deep dive into the oceans and into our own personal relationships requires courage and faith,” Mimi reflects. “It’s important to do that before it’s too late.” Mimi’s film about her husband is emblematic of our town’s journey—a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Filming elephant seals in California.
Mike—protected by a chain mail suit, Kevlar plates, and behind a plexiglass shield—in Enewetak (Marshall Islands) trying to elicit a gray reef shark posture (the warning behavior that precedes an attack).
