25 years ago – in December 1997 – «Titanic» came to the cinemas. A film that broke world records and is one of the most successful films. The tragic love story still moves movie fans from all over the world.
Here are 15 facts about ‘Titanic’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet that you probably didn’t know.
“I am the King of the World” is probably the most famous quote from the movie. This wasn’t in the script, though, DiCaprio improvised. According to the American Film Institute, the phrase is one of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time.
“Titanic” was nominated for a total of 14 Oscars – the film won eleven. Among others for best director, best production design, best costume design and best film song. Kate Winslet missed out on Best Actress. Best Supporting Actress was nominated for Gloria Stuart, who plays old Kate. This was the first time two different actresses playing the same role were nominated for an Oscar.
It wasn’t Jack or Leonardo DiCaprio who sketched Rose. The hand of director James Cameron can be seen in the close-ups. Because Cameron is left-handed, the image is reversed.
There is a small but subtle difference: when Rose floats in the water on the door, she is looking at the starry sky. But astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson noticed that the stellar constellation was not correct. In 1912, Rose is said to have seen a different sky.
Tyson insisted that Cameron change this detail and he complied. For example, the 2012 re-release of the film shows the right starry sky from 1912 in the right place at the right time.
‘I have Kate [Winslet] couldn’t see the role of Rose at all at first,” director James Cameron told GQ magazine. He first thought of Gwyneth Paltrow. “Then I met Kate and she was amazing,” Cameron added.
Leonardo DiCaprio also almost didn’t make it. He thought he would get the part right away without having to audition, so Cameron was willing to look for another actor. DiCaprio relented and during the screen test, Cameron realized he was the perfect cast for Jack.
Two hours and forty minutes of the three-hour film tells about the events on the Titanic. From the collision with the iceberg until the ship’s hull sank under the waves, the sinking of the Titanic on April 2, 1912 took exactly 2:40 hours.
James Cameron was fascinated by shipwrecks and when he met Robert Ballard, the leader of the crew that discovered the Titanic, Cameron came up with the idea of filming the whole thing. Production and Cameron’s dozens of dives to view the real ship began in 1995.
In 2003, the documentary “The Ghosts of the Titanic” was released, in which Cameron explored the wreck at a depth of 4,000 meters.
During the dozens of dives, Cameron spent between 15 and 17 hours exploring the Titanic. That’s longer than passengers spent on what was then the largest ship in the world in 1912. At noon on April 12, 1912, the RMS Titanic left Southampton. Just before midnight, the ship collided with the iceberg and two hours later, at 02:20, the ship rose again and sank completely.
The car in which Rose and Jack have sex is a Renault Type CB Coupe de Ville. According to the cargo form, just such a vehicle was also loaded on board the Titanic. It belonged to first-class passenger William Carter, who bought the Renault on his European trip and wanted to take it back to America. The car parts were never found. Carter survived the accident.
James Cameron recreated many of the onboard details, such as decorations and clocks, from the original Titanic. So is this carpet. Not only is it a copy of the original, Cameron tracked down the company that made the rugs for the Titanic in 1912. They still had the original pattern and produced the same rugs for the movie.
Isidor and Ida Strauss was the name of the couple on which the couple lying in bed together waiting for the sinking of the Titanic is based. As women and children were evacuated first, Ida almost got into a lifeboat, but turned and walked back to her husband. She is said to have said, “Wherever you go, I go too”. During the sinking, they sat together on sun loungers.
On The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert, Kate Winslet revealed she had hypothermia on set. The water scenes were filmed in huge pools and Winslet believes the water pools were too big to warm up. She was one of the few who did not wear a wetsuit while filming in the water.
To avoid having to constantly hire and train new extras during production, a group of 150 core characters were hired to take a 1912 Good Conduct and Manners course. All characters were named and backstory, though most never spoke and only appeared briefly in the film.
The grand staircase on the Titanic was recreated from the original with the idea that it would be destroyed. Because when the ship started to sink, the room with the grand staircase flooded and James Cameron knew he would only get one chance to film it all. About 340,000 gallons of water were poured onto the assembled set to make the destruction as dramatic as possible.
Coming to the movie’s most controversial point — or at least the scene that sparks the most discussion: Could Jack have had room on the door and actually survived?
Yes, the Mythbusters say in a video. They reenacted the scene and concluded that if Rose had strapped her lifejacket under the heavy door, it would have floated steadily on the water. The lovers would have easily had room for it and thus survived.
Source: Blick
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
