If the romance of Titanic has remained cult for spectators, not all the scenes, even the most beautiful, were a pleasure to shoot for the actors.
When it was released in 1997, Titanic was a real tidal wave on the world of the seventh art. A true critical and popular success, the film directed by James Cameron revived the already keen interest in the story of the shipwreck, but also made millions of spectators dream thanks to its tragic but very romantic love story between Rose, a first class passenger corseted by her rank, and Jack, a poor but free third-class artist.
Even though the first half of Titanic took place without incident before the terrible shipwreck which actually cost the lives of thousands of people, the filming was not a cakewalk for the team. For Kate Winslet, even kissing Leonardo DiCaprio was “a nightmare.” As she explains in a video from Vanity Fairthe famous scene where the couple kisses on the bow of the ship to the notes of “My heart will go on” remains difficult to watch: “When I watch this scene, I can see to what extent I could not breathing in that damn corset was a nightmare to shoot, because Leo couldn’t stop laughing and we had to reshoot it four times because of the lighting.
The interpreter of Rose also explains that between two takes, it was she who took care of redoing the makeup, because when they kissed, their respective makeup ran on each other. “It was such a mess… But I’m quite proud of this scene, because it’s a film that continues to delight new generations who discover it.” And, as Kate Winslet admits, every time the actress is on a boat, she is asked to reenact the scene. And sometimes she accepts, sometimes she refuses!
More than 25 years after its release, Titanic remains a cult film for several generations of spectators. It must be said that the feature film directed by James Cameron has accumulated many exploits: it won 11 Oscars while becoming one of the biggest box office successes worldwide, and this being so, at the time of its release in 1997 , the most expensive film ever produced. This drama recounting the sinking of the liner in 1912 has since been the subject of several successful releases in cinema, in 3D in 2012 and in a restored version on February 8, 2023.
Titanic is also a film that propelled its two main actors to stardom, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Since then, they have both become renowned actors among the general public. However, the filming of James Cameron’s film was not easy, since it lasted more than eight months and sometimes took place in trying conditions.
Synopsis – Southampton, April 10, 1912. The Titanic, the largest liner in the world, is preparing to set sail for its first voyage to New York. On board, the modest Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a third-class passenger who won his ticket in poker, meets Rose Dewitt Buckater (Kate Winslet), a beautiful young first-class girl from the upper middle class and his mother Ruth (Frances Fisher) has promised Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane), a wealthy aristocrat. Jack will introduce Rose to the festive world of third-class evenings, despite the disagreements of Caledon and Ruth, determined to prevent Rose from becoming infatuated with Jack. But although everything opposes them, the two young people will fall madly in love with each other and promise to run away together when the liner arrives. Their projects will sink at the same time as the Titanic which then hits an iceberg in the middle of an ocean with freezing water…
The love story between Rose and Jack could hardly have happened due to the social conventions of the time. It is therefore no surprise that Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson are completely fictional characters, invented by James Cameron. However, for the role played by Kate Winslet, the director would have been inspired by a manuscript by Helen Churchill Candee, an American journalist who describes her romance with a passenger on the boat. While the names of the protagonists of Titanic had already been found, James Cameron discovered that a certain J. Dawson, member of the Titanic’s engineering team, would have been killed in the sinking. However, his name would be James, not Jack. He is buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Titanic is the film that truly launched the careers of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who play the two star-crossed lovers in James Cameron’s feature film. We also find in the cast the actors Billy Zane, Bill Paxton and Kathy Bates. Find the main cast of Titanic below:
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
- Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt-Bukater/Dawson
- Billy Zane as Caledon Hockley
- Frances Fisher as Ruth DeWitt-Bukater
- Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett
- Gloria Stuart as Rose Calvert
- Kathy Bates as Margaret Brown known as Molly
- Victor Garber as naval architect Thomas Andrews
- Bernard Hill as Commander Edward John Smith
- Jonathan Hyde as Joseph Bruce Ismay
- David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy
- Danny Nucci as Fabrizio De Rossi
- Jason Barry as Tommy Ryan
- Alexandrea Owens as Cora Cartmell
- Rocky Taylor as Bert Cartmell
- Lewis Abernathy (from: Lewis Bodine
- Suzy Friends: Lizzy Calvert
The true story of Titanic and its historical fidelity
If the romance between Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) is invented for the needs of the screenplay, the film traces the true story of sinking of the Titanicafter hitting an iceberg in 1912. PSeveral historical elements are sprinkled throughout the feature film to make it as close to reality as possible. During the production of Titanic, two historians brought their knowledge to James Cameron. Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, authors of The Great Illustrated History of the Titanic, worked with the director so that the reconstruction of the shipwreck was as faithful as possible to the drama which took place at the beginning of the twentieth century. If Rose and Jack, as well as their families, are fictitious, they rub shoulders with people who really existed, such as Captain Smith, Commander Smith, or the architect Joseph Bruce Ismay.
We can also see, during the shipwreck scene, a nod to a couple who actually existed: they are Isidor and Ida Straus, two members of the first class of the boat, who decided to leave their place on the lifeboat channels to die together on the boat. They are depicted in the film during a very moving scene, during which an elderly couple, embraced in a bed, awaits death. If we do not know exactly how the captain of the boat died, several theories exist about him, one of the rumors states that he would have stayed behind to sink with the Titanic, as shown in the film.
Titanic also takes liberties with History
Among the elements of the Titanic scenario that are not historically proven, we note the fact that Bruce Ismay pressured the captain to make the ship go faster. Ismay has always defended himself against such accusations, and historians tend to side with the architect on this point. The architect was also exonerated of the accusations of misconduct against him after the sinking of the liner. The death of First Officer William Murdoch in the film also caused controversy, since he is seen in the feature film shooting two men before killing himself. If this scene is inspired by rumors of suicide, these have been denied by several observers and witnesses.