20 Interesting facts about the making of the movie “Titanic” that you didn’t know

 

1. Madonna auditioned for the role of Rose but was considered too old to play the role of younger Rose.

 

2. Christian Bale openly campaigned for the role of Jack Dawson but James Cameron refused as he did not want two British actors playing the role of two Americans.

 

3. The elderly Couple who lie on the bed awaiting death as water floods the room is based on the real-life couple Ida and Isidor Strauss, the owners of Macy’s who died on the RMS Titanic.

 

4. In the movie, Jack says he goes ice fishing in Wissota lake but the lake did not exist in 1912. This man-made lake was created in 1917!

 

5. During a shooting schedule in Canada, an angry crew member added disassociative drug PCP (angel dust) into the soup that Cameron and others were eating. The drug sent more than 50 people to the hospital. Cameron managed to vomit before the drug could take full hold. The perpetrator has never been caught.

 

6. Kate Winslet flashed Leonardo DiCaprio on the first day (of their meeting) so that there would be no awkwardness between them during the filming of the nude scene.

7. The scenes set in 1912 lasts for two hours and thirty minutes, the exact time it took for RMS Titanic to sink.

 

8. Everyone (trade circles) including James Cameron thought that Titanic made on a budget of 200 million USD would end up as a catastrophic disaster instead, it went on to get an initial worldwide gross of 1.8 billion USD 

 

9. James Cameron, who was deeply fascinated with shipwrecks considered the RMS Titanic as “Mount Everest of Shipwrecks” wrote a script for Titanic and sought Hollywood funding to get to dive to the shipwreck; not because he particularly wanted to make the movie.

 

10. The character in Titanic who fortifies himself with alcohol and rides down the ship into the ocean along with Rose and Jack is based on the real-life person Chief Baker Charles Joughin. He survived the ordeal and credited the booze for that.

 

11. There was a real J.Dawson on RMS Titanic. “J.Dawson or Joseph Dawson” was a trimmer aboard the RMS Titanic. He was buried in the Fairview Lawn cemetery in Nova Scotia. Today, his gravestone is the most widely visited one in the cemetery.

 

 

12. James Cameron chose to build only the starboard side of his RMS Titanic. All shots were reversed to show the ship docked on the port side at Southampton. The crew managed the illusion by reversing the signs and the costumes.

 

13. It is actually James Cameron hand that is seen sketching the nude picture of Rose. He also drew other pictures in jack’s portfolio.

 

14. Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on” from Titanic is one of the iconic movie songs. However, Kate Winslet admitted that she hated the song partly due to the fact that people tended to play the song when she was around.

 

 

15. Gloria Stuart, the 1930s actor who played the elder Rose died at the age of 100 just like her character in the movie.

 

16. It has been scientifically proved that the drift-board on which Rose floats could have withstood the weight of Rose and Jack. It would also have kept them afloat for more than an hour (time taken to rescue Rose in the movie). All they had to do was tie the life jacket around the driftwood for buoyancy.

 

17. When Jack is handcuffed to a pole in E deck, he irreverently quips, “I’ll wait here.” – That was not part of the script but Cameron liked it very much so he kept it in.

 

 

18. Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio was so popular that 7% of American teen girls had seen it twice within five weeks. The phenomenon of girls repeatedly watching the film was nicknamed “Leo-Mania”.

 

19. This is the first movie that saw two different actors getting nominated for Academy awards, for playing the same role. Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were nominated (Best actress and Best Supporting actress respectively) for the role of Rose

 

 

 

20. In the original script, Cal was supposed to find Rose in the Carpathia. Rose was supposed to tell him to let her mother know that she perished in the sinking of the ship and that he would leave her alone for the rest of her life.