Titanic, Two Decades Later & Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

Titanic had us all balling our eyes out, and let’s face it, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” definitely didn’t help! The must-see movie from 1997 has been considered one of the best movies of all-time. Until Avatar dethroned the heart-breaking story of Titanic in 2009, it was the highest grossing film of all-time. Here are some facts about this movie masterpiece everyone should know, let’s see if you knew any of these.

No Jack, No Rose

How would you feel if Titanic didn’t mean Leo and Kate? Well, they almost weren’t cast as the main actors on the set. Two very fitting candidates for these roles were Matthew McConaughey and Gwyneth Paltrow, and although we love them both, we’re all happy that we got our Jack and Rose.

Roses From Rose

Kate Winslet is not shy in admitting that she was somewhat pushy when it came to getting herself the role as Rose. She “badgered” director James Cameron by calling him and saying, “I just have to do this, and you are really mad if you don’t cast me.” She went as far as to send him a bunch of roses with a note reading, “From Your Rose,” following her audition. Winslet admits that he took a risk in casting her, “A lot of my contemporaries — Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder — were much more likely candidates. I got lucky.”

From Titanic To Titanic

1912 was a very long time ago, but not long ago enough that someone on the set of Titanic in 1997, was actually alive at the time of the real “Titanic” disaster in 1912. American actress Gloria Stuart was the only individual on the set who actually lived during the time of the massive iceberg tragedy.

A Real Rescue

While filming the scenes “aboard” the RMS Titanic, DiCaprio rescued a lizard and nursed it back to full health. No, the lizard wasn’t drowning or lying on a door in the ocean, a truck ran it over.

The Answer To The Door

One of the most heated debates of the 21st century is not whether North Korea will recklessly launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at America or not. The greatest debate is surrounding a door that could have saved both Jack and Rose or at least afforded them each a turn. Ladies and gentlemen, there is an answer, and you probably aren’t going to like it. James Cameron, the director explains, “Look, it’s very, very simple: you read page 147 of the script and it says, ‘Jack gets off the board and gives his place to her so that she can survive.’ It’s that simple.” I told you you wouldn’t like it.

Sleight Of Hand

Every girl can vouch for that very romantic moment when Rose asks Jack to draw her “like one of your French girls.” But as you might have guessed, Leonardo DiCaprio can’t draw, but do you know who can? Director James Cameron can, so he took the matter into his own hands and sketched in place of Leo.

Chilling Coincidence

This one is a little creepy, if you ask me. There actually was a real J. Dawson aboard the real “Titanic”. The director didn’t actually know that coincidental fact, and he only discovered it after the movie already aired. Either way it comes as no surprise that Mr. J. Dawson has had a fortune of tourist visitors at his grave since Titanic hit the big screen.

Sick Of Wetsuits

Many actors like to keep their scenes as realistic as possible, but sometimes it comes at a cost. Kate Winslet insisted on not wearing a wetsuit during the water scenes, which spanned many hours long. The result was an extremely genuine acting experience… and pneumonia.

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan was almost cast for Titanic… no, not as Rose seeing as she was only 8 years old. But the casting crew considered putting her in as Cora, the young girl Jack dances with and later calls his “best girl”. The main reason they didn’t pick her was because her fiery red hair was too similar to that of Rose and her mother, Ruth.

My Heart Will…

Can any of us ever imagine Titanic without feeling Celine Dion pull at our heart strings? No, we can’t. Originally James Cameron intended the soundtrack to be a song without words. The change came when composer James Horner collaborated with lyricist Will Jennings and Celine Dion. Their demo of “My Heart Will Go On” did its work and Cameron was sold.

Titanic In The Millions

Here’s a fact to wrap your brain around. It cost constructors $7.5 million to build the real Titanic between 1910 and 1912. If you convert that amount to 1997’s dollar value, it would have cost between $120 to $150 million to build. Now, how’s this? The cost to make the movie was about $200 million!

Double Screening

Titanic was such a hit when it came to theaters that movie houses decided to keep the movie on the big screen for 9 months! During this time the movie came out on VHS but was still being played in cinemas. This was the first movie to ever accomplish such an achievement.

That Sinking Feeling

The cast and camera crew mysteriously became ill and sickly at the end of one of the days of shooting. Actor Bill Paxton recalls the strange moment when everyone was inflicted, “The crew was all milling about. Some people were laughing, some people were crying, some people were throwing up.” What actually happened was that someone anonymously spiked the food on set with PCP and until today no-one knows who did it.

Showing Off

Like jumping into a cold pool, it always takes a leap of faith no matter how many times you’ve done it before. When Kate Winslet realized that she was going to have to appear naked in front of Leonardo DiCaprio, she took the edge off by flashing him the first time that they met. A pretty brave and bold move, if you ask me.

Size Matters

It’s the director’s job to rile up the emotions of the viewers, but in order to do so he must be creative. During the scene where the ship is sinking, Rose’s coat is a size 8 in comparison to the size 4 gowns that she wore during the rest of the screening. The reason for this was that the larger coat made Rose look more vulnerable. Smart.