It’s hard to imagine James Cameron’s Titanic without Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead couple, and Winslet made sure she was cast in this massive project. One of James Cameron’s most ambitious and successful projects is the 1997 disaster drama movie Titanic, which took the real-life tragedy of the RMS Titanic to tell the fictional story of Jack Dawson (DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Winslet), two passengers from different social classes whose romance was doomed to tragedy.
Over the course of four days on board the ship, Jack and Rose met, fell in love, and defended their relationship from those who wanted to keep them apart, especially those close to Rose, as were her mother, Ruth (Frances Fisher), and Rose’s fiancé Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Titanic became one of the most successful and praised movies in film history, and the performances of DiCaprio and Winslet were key to the movie’s success, and Winslet surely knew Cameron’s project was going to be a big hit, as she campaigned to get the role, even reaching out to Cameron in different ways, which eventually paid off.
Kate Winslet Signed A Note To James Cameron As “Rose” To Be Cast
There are a lot of stories about the development of James Cameron’s Titanic, including how Kate Winslet convinced Cameron that she was the one who should play Rose. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1998, Winslet opened up about the process of joining Cameron’s massive project, as well as her reaction to reading the script for the first time. Winset shared that she “closed the script, wept floods of tears” and was absolutely convinced that she had to play Rose. Winslet then called her agent and at some point asked for Cameron’s number, and she eventually dialed his car phone, telling Cameron that she “just have to do this” and he would be “really mad” if he didn’t cast her. Winslet reportedly denied calling Cameron years later, but she admitted to doing other things to get the role.
According to an EW article from 1997, Cameron was impressed by Winslet’s test, but he reserved judgment, so Winslet did what she could to convince him that she was the Rose he was looking for. Winslet sent Cameron a single rose with a card signed “From Your Rose”, and that same article adds that she called him many times to tell him that she was the Rose he was looking for. Winslet’s talent, passion, and enthusiasm eventually won Cameron over and she got the role.
The Actresses Who Almost Played Rose In James Cameron’s Titanic
James Cameron is well-known for his attention to detail, so casting the main characters of Titanic wasn’t easy as he had a very specific vision for them and the movie in general. In the aforementioned EW article, Cameron described the role of Rose as “an Audrey Hepburn type”, and among the actresses he considered for it were Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, and Gabrielle Anwar, but it’s unknown if they turned it down or if they even got to audition for it. Although Kate Winslet wasn’t a newcomer by the time Titanic was in development and James Cameron was looking for his Rose, as she had starred in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Titanic definitely boosted her career, and it was thanks to both her talent and perseverance.
