25 years of Titanic: 25 lesser-known facts about James Cameron’s epic movie
As it turns out, Jack Dawson may have survived in James Cameron’s Titanic after all. It took the director 25 years to finally admit that if Jack (Leonardo Di Caprio) had shared Rose DeWitt Bukater’s (Kate Winslet) makeshift raft until the rescue boats arrived, their short-lived love story didn’t have to end in complete tragedy. Cameron’s a perfectionist; he reached the consensus only after a series of real experiments that were later streamed on National Geographic.
Back when it was first released in 1998, Titanic captivated audiences across the world. Cameron’s iconic film cinematised the catastrophic event of 1912, when the R.M.S. Titanic, White Star Line’s “ship of dreams” hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage, plummeting over 1,500 people to their death into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. But at the heart of it, all was a (fictionalised) love story that though ill-fated, defied all measures of class divides and social stigmas.
The movie was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 11 categories that included Best Picture and Best Director. After its release, Titanic earned the moniker of the highest-grossing film of all time until Cameron’s next film, Avatar, assumed the title in 2010. On 10 February this year, the movie was re-released in theatres to mark its silver jubilee. For this very occasion, we’ve rounded up a list of 25 lesser-known facts about the epic film.
25 years of Titanic: 25 lesser-known facts about James Cameron’s epic movie
1. Titanic launched Leonardo Di Caprio into international stardom. As a working-class hero Jack, he won over all sorts of audiences with his boyish charm. However, Leo wasn’t the director’s only choice for the leading man. In a podcast with Rob Lowe, Mathew McConaughey revealed that he had almost nabbed the role. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were reportedly the other strong contenders. Imagine that!
2. The character of Rose was also being decided upon; with the names of Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Cameron Diaz, Sharon Stone, and Gwyneth Paltrow doing the rounds. However, as Kate Winslet revealed in an interview with The Rolling Stones: she wasn’t having any of that. She even told Cameron he would be “mad” not to cast her in the role. Her persistence certainly paid off.
3. The famous (and slightly gross) spitting scene, where Jack teaches Rose to “spit like a man” in her quest to assume greater freedom was completely improvised.
4. Winslet must have really taken to the spitting lessons. According to the script, Rose was supposed to jab her fiancé Cal (Billy Zane) with a hair needle in one of the scenes. Instead, Winslet improvised and decided to spit in his face for greater impact.
5. Cameron had always planned on titling the film “Titanic”. However, he decided to go with a decoy title “Planet Ice” in case there were other studios making films about the RMS Titanic.
6. Remember Cora? The little girl who Jack doted on? Turns out Lindsay Lohan had auditioned for that role. However, Cameron decided to go with Alexandrea Owens instead.
7. On the final night of the shooting, someone reportedly mixed PCP (angel dust) into the clam chowder that the cast and crew were eating. More than 50 people, save Leo and Winslet, had to be taken to the hospital. People suspected the culprit to be a former disgraced crew member, but the perpetrator was never caught.
8. The underwater footage which showed the wreckage from the ship was actually from the real Titanic. Cameron dived in himself, twelve different times when the film’s production began. A perfectionist to the core.
9. Speaking of Cameron’s talents — the intricate sketches of Rose done by Jack are actually by the director!
10. Gloria Stewart, who played the older Rose, was the only member of the cast and crew who was actually alive when the real Titanic sank in 1912. She was two at the time.
11. Older Rose’s (Stewart) Pomeranian was purposefully used on set as Cameron wished to pay tribute to the three canine survivors of the RMS Titanic.
12. Despite most of the characters in the movie being fictionalised, “the unsinkable Molly Brown” played by Kathy Bates was actually based on a real-life American socialite who is said to have helped passengers into lifeboats when the ship was sinking.
13. Going by historical records, the real Titanic officially sank at 2:20 am. In the movie, however, they show it happening at 2:15 am.
14. Can you imagine the movie without its iconic song, Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On? According to what composer James Horner told Billboard, Cameron only wanted to use instrumental music for the movie. However, Horner record a demo with Celine in secret and her performance left everyone in the room “emotionally shook up”. A month and a half later, Cameron agreed.
