It was an epic film about an epic disaster. The year was 1997, and at the time Titanic was first released in Japan on Nov. 1, it was the biggest-budget film of all time — and one that incorporated everything from cutting-edge deep-sea submersibles to a life-size model of the ill-fated luxury liner.
Made by Canadian director James Cameron, the film also catapulted Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to fame, and rekindled interest in the 1912 sinking, which cost more than 1,500 people their lives.
But how much do you know about the making of the film? here are some important facts about the film. If you're a hardcore Titanic fan, you should know all of these by heart, just like every line from the movie. Are you ready to go back to Titanic?
during production, the movie was called planet ice.
Director James Cameron used a decoy title in case other studios were making films about the RMS Titanic. Clever? Yes, but the fake title didn't stop Leonardo DiCaprio fans from congregating congregating near the gates of Fox Baja Studios in Mexico during filming
before dicaprio, there was strong consideration for cruise, pitt, and even sisto.
As in Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Jeremy Sisto of Clueless fame. (Jeremy even did a screen test with Kate Winslet, but obviously did not get the best test results.) Can you imagine anyone else wearing this (borrowed) suit to dinner in First Class?
madonna was considered for the role of rose.
It would have been a great follow-up to 1996's Evita, which earned Madonna a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Also in the running: Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Cameron Diaz, Sharon Stone, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
dicaprio was "like a cat” on set.
This, according to Cameron, who said DiCaprio “always made this big drama about getting wet.” Eventually, he warmed up quite literally, thanks to the crew members who poured buckets of warm water over the actor over months of filming. On the last day of filming, which took place underwater, Cameron lost sight of DiCaprio the cat. “I’m down there in my scuba equipment, and Leo comes down, and he’s a total fish underwater. And he’s [even] doing somersaults.”
winslet and dicaprio engaged in a lot of sex talk in between takes.
As the Rolling Stone profile revealed, the two would snuggle under a blanket in his trailer for these conversations. “You know, some very, very personal things, asking each other for advice. Not necessarily comparing notes but sort of, ‘No, don’t do it like that, do it like this.’ He’s very good at that. I have to say, a lot of those sexual tips he’s given me have worked. And I know it’s vice versa.”
lindsay lohan auditioned for cora, aka jack’s “best girl.”
Lohan, who was 8 at the time, lost the role to Alexandra Owens after Cameron expressed concern over Lohan’s red hair being too similar to Rose and Ruth’s fiery locks. The Parent Trap was released the following year.
gloria stuart was the only titanic cast member who was alive during titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912.
Stuart was almost 2 when the RMS Titanic perished in the Atlantic. In 1998, she also became the oldest Academy Award nominee at 87 when she was up for Best Supporting Actress. (Unfortunately, she lost to Kim Basinger, who won for L.A. Confidential.)
it cost more to make titanic the movie than titanic the ship.
Cameron and company spent $200 million to make the film in 1997, while the ship cost $7.5 million. As TIME pointed out in 2016, that number would be $180 million after adjusted inflation.
those are not dicaprio’s hands drawing rose.
As hardcore Titanic fans know, Cameron was the skilled artist behind Jack's drawing of Rose wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean. In 2011, the drawing sold for “at least $16,000” in an auction, according to ABC News.
dicaprio was often spotted with his pet lizard on set.
His name? "Blizzard". No joke. Imagine being a lizard in 1996/1997 and belonging to future Oscar winner and eternal hottie Leonardo DiCaprio though...
near the end of the shoot, about 50 members of the cast and crew were sent to the hospital after eating spiked chowder.
It happened just after midnight on Aug. 9, 1996 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and according to Halifax Regional Police, someone had laced the lobster chowder with PCP or angel dust. Among those affected: Bill Paxton, who told EW “One minute I felt okay. The next minute I felt so goddamn anxious I wanted to breathe in a paper bag. Cameron was feeling the same way.” As one doctor put it, “These people were stoned.” The case inspired several conspiracy theories, including one involving an angry chef that had been let go.
while she was spared from the great titanic chowder episode, winslet got hypothermia – not the long rumored pneumonia.
“I was really f*cking cold!” she told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in November 2017 of the final scene with Jack in the water. “There were lots of big tanks, there was lots of water. That amount of water, I think honestly, they couldn’t heat it. There was just too much of it.”
speaking of the water tanks, you bet winslet and dicaprio peed in them.
“You know, when you gotta go, you gotta go,” Winslet said on The Rosie O'Donell Show while promoting the film. “It was so awful because Leo would sometimes say to me, ‘Sweetie I gotta pee’… It was terrible. It was awful. And you always felt awful doing it. It took too long getting out, with the wet clothes. I confess. It happened. It happened.”
dicaprio ad-libbed during the "draw me like one of your french girls" scene.
His line was supposed to be, “Lie on that couch,” but instead, DiCaprio mumbled, “Lie on that bed. Uh, I mean couch.” Spontaneity never looked hotter.
the demo for “my heart will go on” was recorded in secret.
Apparently, Cameron only wanted instrumental music on the soundtrack. Of the recording with Celine Dion, Horner told Billboard, “She started singing the song and it was just electrifying. By the end of it, we were all emotionally shook up. She started crying while singing it two-thirds of the way through the song, and then everybody in the room was crying. She was singing it like her life depended on it.” It took him another month and a half to fully convince Cameron that the song belonged in the film. And the rest, as they say, is key-change history.
“ A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets.” —Rose.
So, that's it for now.. Hope you enjoyed it ❤️
~Virgo
My favorite movie, that brought tears in my eyes