SAIL OF THE CENTURY
MOVIE EPIC TITANIC WAS RELEASED 20 YEARS AGO. MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT HOW TINSELTOWN BROUGHT SINKING THE UNTHINKABLE TO THE BIG SCREEN
HOLLYWOOD director James Cameron said: “Every time I make a movie, everybody says it’s the most expensive film ever made. This time they’re right.”
Filming movie epic Titanic cost £120 million ($200 million) – 30 times more than it cost to build the original ship itself – and the film launched in cinemas 20 years ago in 1997.
The Daily Mirror called it “possibly the most romantic blockbuster ever made” while the New York Times said it “honestly invites comparison to Gone With The Wind.”
USA Today’s review said: “It’s difficult to recall another epic that has been carried so forcefully by its feminine side – specifically Kate Winslet’s luminous performance.”
The film followed the story of two young passengers on board the ill-fated maiden voyage of the liner in 1912 – struggling artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and beautiful rich Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet).
The cast also included Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton and Bernard Hill as Titanic’s Captain Smith.
Bringing one of the greatest human disasters of the century to the big screen involved some of greatest-ever feats of movie making at the time.
A Titanic replica, 20 storeys tall and just 100ft shorter than the 775 ft original, was floated in the world’s largest water tank – covering six acres – which was specially built in Mexico to house the ship. There was also a 32,000 ft wet stage with an indoor water tank and a 40 acre film studio.
The 800 film crew also included 100 stunt actors, 80 electricians and 30 lifeguards. The latest digital technology was used to make it the first film to mix live action and digital character animation.
“I’ve never done a movie like it,” said Leonardo DiCaprio. “You arrived on the set to see literally thousands of people who are involved with it.”
The movie took almost a year of his life to shoot and he said: “It was such a gigantic thing. You had to hang on to a sense of yourself and your character at all times, and not concentrate on this wild madness that was going on around you.”
Titanic was the world’s most prestigious liner when it was holed by an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
She was the largest and most luxurious ship of her time and was carrying some of the wealthiest people in the world including Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, who was worth $87 million, but the “unsinkable” liner sank less than three hours after hitting an iceberg.
When Lord Lew Grade tackled the story in 1980 in Raise The Titanic, it cost £40 million but earned just £7 million, which led to his classic quip: “Rather than raise the Titanic, it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.”
At three hours and 12 minutes long, Titanic cost twice as much to make as first expected to make, but earned back its $200 million budget in just 25 days – outstripping the new James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies – and became the first movie to gross a billion dollars.
It was number one at the American box office for a record 15 consecutive weeks and the film went on to win 11 Oscars including best song for My Heart Will Go On.
Singer Celine Dion said: “I will perform My Heart Will Go On for the rest of my life and it will always remain a very emotional experience for me.”
British actress Kate Winslet spent hours in freezing water, suffered a chipped elbow and gashed her knee making the movie. She also missed the royal premiere at Leicester Square in front of Prince Charles after falling ill with food poisoning in Morocco while working on her next project, a film adaptation of Esther Freud’s novel Hideous Kinky.
She was so keen to play the character of Rose that she sent James Cameron daily notes from England at the start of casting, went to LA and kept phoning him declaring: “You don’t understand! I am Rose! I don’t know why you’re even seeing anyone else!”
Johnny Depp was offered the role of Jack Dawson and has said one of his big regrets is turning down the part.
Leonardo later said of his famous role: “I’m not haunted by it but it certainly follows me. I’ve been to the Amazon and people with no clothes on – and I’m not exaggerating – know about that film. I’ve accepted it.”
Cameron, who produced, directed, wrote, and edited the film, revealed afterwards: “Before Leo was cast, he did something that really rubbed me the wrong way – he sat there smoking a cigarette, slouching as if the whole thing was too much trouble.
“I didn’t even think he was paying attention. Then he got up and read the scene, and it was like ‘boom!’ I saw it and I knew – he’s the guy.”