Titanic
Nothing on earth could come between them.
Titanic (1997)
Production
Budget
$200 000 000
Revenue
$2 264 162 353
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jack Dawson
Kate Winslet
Rose DeWitt Bukater
Billy Zane
Cal Hockley
Kathy Bates
Molly Brown
Frances Fisher
Ruth DeWitt Bukater
Gloria Stuart
Old Rose
Bill Paxton
Brock Lovett
Bernard Hill
Captain Smith
Short description
James Cameron wrote and directed this 1997 drama, set in April 1912 aboard the Titanic on its maiden voyage. Jack Dawson, a penniless young artist who won his ticket in a card game, meets Rose DeWitt Bukater, a first-class passenger travelling to America with her mother and her wealthy fiancé, Cal Hockley. Rose is expected to marry Cal for the sake of her family's standing, though she does not love him. She and Jack grow close across the ship's class divisions, while the liner, regarded as unsinkable, heads toward an iceberg. The story is framed by Rose as a very old woman, recounting her memories to a group of researchers some 84 years after the disaster.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play Jack and Rose, with Billy Zane as Cal, Frances Fisher as Rose's mother Ruth, Kathy Bates as Molly Brown and Gloria Stuart as the elderly Rose. The large production, made by 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Lightstorm Entertainment, was produced by Cameron and Jon Landau with a budget of 200 million USD. It went on to take 2.26 billion USD worldwide, a figure far beyond its cost.
It stands seventh among the fifteen films Cameron has directed, between True Lies in 1994 and Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003. Audiences rate it highly, at 8 out of 10 on IMDb from 1,400,000 votes and 7.9 out of 10 on TMDB from 27,774 votes, while critics gave it 8.4 out of 10 from 255 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the filming of the scene depicting the 'Titanic' colliding with the iceberg, a green screen was placed behind the deck where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were standing, which was later replaced with a computer-generated image of the iceberg during editing. To make the scene look more realistic, pieces of real ice were sprinkled onto the deck from above.
- The full-scale model of the 'Titanic' lacked a bow. It was added digitally each time. When James Cameron saw how much these special effects cost, he exclaimed, 'We should have just built it!'
- James Cameron deliberately allowed a historical inaccuracy when filming the scenes in the lifeboats. The night of April 15, 1912, was moonless, the stars provided too little light, and the director needed to illuminate the sets somehow. Therefore, Cameron gave some officers electric flashlights, which their 1912 counterparts did not have.
- At the moment when the ship is in a vertical position, a person in white drinking from a flask can be seen in the frame. Rumor has it that one of the stokers managed to survive thanks to alcohol. He stayed in the water for several hours and managed not to freeze.
- An elderly Rosa acquired a Pomeranian dog. During the disaster, the Pomeranian became one of three surviving dogs. Cameron filmed an episode of the dogs' rescue, but decided not to include it in the final version of the film.
- The effect of frost on the clothes and hair of the 'Titanic' passengers in the water was achieved by coating their hair and clothing with wax, as well as a special powder that turned into crystals upon contact with water. And the steam from their mouths was added digitally.
- Christian Bale auditioned for the role of Jack Dawson, but Cameron rejected his candidacy as one of the first, as the script stipulated that the main characters were to be Americans. Cameron decided that he had enough with just one non-American, Kate Winslet.
- The stern of the ship mock-up was placed on a special platform that allowed it to quickly assume a vertical position. A total of 10 takes were made for filming this scene, each of which required the participation of about a hundred falling stunt performers.
- While working on the script, James Cameron insisted that the main characters, Jack and Rose, be fictional. Only after the script was finished did James learn that a passenger named J. Dawson was aboard the Titanic.
- The drawing of Rose was made by James Cameron himself – those are his hands in the shot. However, since the director is left-handed, the footage was mirrored during editing. All other drawings in Jack’s album are also the work of James.
- The deep-sea footage that made it into the final version of the film totals just 12 minutes in runtime. In reality, each dive took several hours. To improve resource efficiency, James Cameron ordered the preparation of a 33-times-reduced scale model of the Titanic's wreckage. Every actual dive was rehearsed using this model and models of Russian submarines. A total of 12 dives took place. During the last two, the image was transmitted by a special device installed inside the Titanic's wreckage. Some footage was computer-generated.
- During pre-production, the director hired the 'Mir' deep-sea submersibles, conducted underwater filming of a ship, and engaged art historians and artists to restore the ship's interior. Underwater filming of the sunken 'Titanic' was carried out in collaboration with specialists from the Deep-Water Apparatus Laboratory of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- The hymn performed in the ship's chapel was written 25 years after the events depicted in the film.
- Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet agreed to participate in the film long before the final version of the script appeared, based on James Cameron's sketches.
- Actor Macaulay Culkin could also have played the role of Jack Dawson.
- To record the soundtrack, James Cameron planned to invite Enya. When she refused, James enlisted his old acquaintance James Horner to work on the score (they had previously collaborated on 'Aliens'). It wasn't easy to do, as the composer hadn't retained the fondest memories of working with Cameron, who made strict demands on his staff.
- The scene of Rose's portrait being painted was filmed on the first day of shooting for Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. After filming, Leo asked Cameron: "How did I do?" To which the director seriously replied: "Well, you know, today is your first day of shooting, so you can still be replaced."
- The filming of the Titanic's departure from Southampton port was done 'in reverse': due to budget constraints, the full-scale Titanic model was covered with metal only on the left side (the weather forecast predicted a southerly wind, so it was decided to position the model nose-south, so that the wind would carry the smoke from the funnels to the stern, creating an additional illusion of the ship's movement). However, in Southampton, the real Titanic was moored on the right side, and to avoid historical inaccuracies, James Cameron decided to film 'in reverse'. For this, a portion of the equipment, props, and costumes were ordered mirrored. During editing, the image was flipped, and everything was correct.
- Kate Winslet was one of the few actors who refused to wear a wetsuit during the filming of the water scenes. The actress contracted pneumonia.
- Creating a 3D version of 'Titanic' cost $18 million and took 60 weeks – longer than the actual filming of the movie.
- Young Rose has green eyes, while the older heroine's eyes take on either a blue or an undefined shade.
- Instead of using expensive helicopters during the filming process, it was decided to use a 50-meter crane placed on rails.
- The role of Cal Hockley was almost secured by Michael Biehn, but ultimately went to Billy Zane.
- The film set a record for the length of its run. It premiered on December 19, 1997, and the last screening took place on September 25, 1998. Thus, the film was in theaters for 281 days.
- Cameron was categorically against using any songs in the film. Then, composer James Horner decided to be cunning. Secretly from James, he, along with Will Jennings (the lyricist) and singer Celine Dion, recorded the song 'My Heart Will Go On'.
- Gloria Stuart plays the older Rose, whose age in the script was 101 years old. Gloria herself was 86 at the time of filming, and according to the actress herself, she found applying the age makeup extremely unpleasant.
- In 2012, the film was re-released in 3D without changing the footage, even with plot inconsistencies, except for the scene where Rose lies on a piece of debris looking at the stars – the sky did not match the one from 1912. American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson repeatedly pointed out this error to the director. Eventually, Cameron asked the scientist to send him the exact star positions, and the sky was corrected in the re-release.
- The film topped the American box office for 15 weeks, from December 19, 1997, to April 2, 1998.
- The character of Rose was partially based on the Californian actress Beatrice Wood.
- When one of the ship's officers says “Full speed ahead!”, someone picks up “Full speed ahead!” in the background. This is the voice of director James Cameron.
- The shooting schedule was exceeded by 22 days.
- The scene where Rose thanks Jack for saving her is an improvisation by the actors.
- Matthew McConaughey was considered for the lead role, but James Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio. Gwyneth Paltrow was offered the role of Rose.
- In one of the deleted scenes, Caledon Hockley sends Lovejoy to kill Jack and Rose, promising him the treasure. Unable to resist the temptation, Lovejoy agrees. Jack and Rose try to hide from him, but he finds Rose. Jack fights Lovejoy and wins. As they escape, Lovejoy manages to get up and aim a gun at them, but they manage to hide. During the fight, Jack breaks Lovejoy’s face – this is why, in the scene where the viewer sees Lovejoy for the last time (he is standing on the upper deck at the very place where the liner begins to break in two), his face is smeared with blood. The fight scene with Lovejoy also explains why Jack has wet hair after running from the dining room, even though the water was chest-deep for him and Rose there – they fell into the water several times during the fight with Lovejoy.
- A full-scale mock-up of the ship was constructed in the waters of a large pool on the Mexican beach of Rosarito. Construction began on the 85th anniversary of the Titanic's launch – May 31, 1996. To reduce costs, the number of repeating ship components (such as windows) was reduced, and some details were modeled to only 90%.
- After filming was completed, the full-scale Titanic model was dismantled and sold for scrap metal.
- Claire Danes was the main candidate for the role of Rose, but she declined because she had recently filmed with DiCaprio in 'Romeo + Juliet'.
- After the ship breaks into two parts, the bow of the ship begins to sink quite quickly. The model was initially divided into two parts, but due to buoyancy, this full-weight structure still could not sink rapidly. Then Cameron suggested filling the airspace between the two compartments with water, lifting the structure, and quickly flooding it before the water could escape. This idea worked.
- On the last night of filming, some pranksters mixed phencyclidine ('angel dust') into the food for the film crew. This drug has a hallucinogenic effect and impairs coordination and thought. 80 people became seriously ill, many were hospitalized with acute hallucinations. After the incident, actor Bill Paxton was depressed for two weeks.
- Caledon Hockley got his name from two small towns (Caledon and Hockley) located in the province of Ontario, Canada, where James Cameron's aunt and uncle lived.
- Initially, 40,000 gallons of water were planned for the scene where water first enters the ship. However, this proved insufficient, and Cameron asked for the amount to be tripled. After that, part of the set had to be rebuilt as it couldn’t withstand the additional weight.
- The first film to gross over $1 billion.
- During the film's editing, Cameron taped a blade to the editing computer with the instruction, 'To be used only in emergencies!'
- Rose pays Jack for the portrait with a 10-cent coin featuring Roosevelt. Such a coin only appeared in 1946.
- James Cameron lost an $8 million fee and a percentage of the total box office revenue after producers discovered that the budget had been significantly exceeded (200 million instead of the planned 135).
- The film had the longest run in a cinema anywhere on the planet at the 'Salut' cinema in Yekaterinburg, a fact recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.
- The paintings used during the filming of the movie are authentic. One such painting was Pablo Picasso’s 'The Guitarist' from 1903, kindly provided for the filming by the Paris Museum of Art. Many of the decorations – from carpets to chandeliers – were recreated from archival sketches of the companies involved in creating the ambiance of the 'Titanic'.
- Before starting to paint Rose on canvas, Jack says to her: "Over there, on the bed, mmm... on the couch." This was actually a mistake by DiCaprio, who mispronounced the line from the script. However, Cameron liked the slip of the tongue.
- The captain's bridge was submerged 4 times and resurfaced 4 times during a 14-minute segment of the film.
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