 |
|
|
They originally wanted Keanu Reeves, Chris O'Donnell, or Matthew McConaughey to play the part of Jack, but then saw Leo in Romeo & Juliet and asked him to play the role. Kate Winslet beat out such competition as Claire Danes, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Gabrielle Anwar to win the part of Rose. James Cameron named the character Rose after his grandmother. James Cameron has a daughter named Joesephine. It was James Cameron who actually drew the drawing of Kate Winslet not Leo. During shooting, someone mixed PCP (angel dust) into the clam chowder that was being served to the cast and crew. Over 80 people fell ill and had hallucinatory visions, including Bill Paxton who played the role of Brock Lovett. Paxton admitted that he felt listless for two weeks after the incident. James Cameron did a small cameo appearance in Titanic. He played the man getting his beard combed for lice when Titanic was docked at Southampton loading passengers. The "Millionaire Suites" that Cal, Rose, and Ruth had were actual rooms on board the real RMS Titanic. They were origanlly commissioned for Mr. J. P. Morgan who fell ill at the last moment and did not go. They were then given to Mr. J Bruce Ismay the Manager of the White Star Line. The davits for the lifeboats and the carpeting were actually made by the same company that did the original Titanic. Cameron did not take any salary when it became apparent that the film would run overbudget. He wanted the film made no matter what it took. Unlike the real RMS Titanic, Cameron's version never sailed. It was all done using state of the art graphics and computer animation. Kate Winslet had to work with a voice coach in order to lose her infamous British accent in favor of a more Philadelphian society girl accent. If you look closely, you can see crew and equipment reflected in Old Rose's TV. A strip of desert is visible between the dock and the Titanic when the ship was docked at Southampton. Titanic's middle propeller was not used to move the ship away from the dock. It took 2 hours and 40 minutes for Titanic to sink. When Captain Smith orders, "Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch -- let's stretch her legs", they are standing to the right of the wheelhouse looking forward with the sun coming from their left. When Murdoch walks into the wheelhouse to carry out the order, the sun is behind him. The original budget for the film was $110 million dollars. The film's final cost was $200 million dollars which means it cost exactly $1 million dollars per minute of finished film. And Titanic needed to gross $400 million dollars just to break even! The draft markings on the Titanic's bow when Jack looks at the dolphins later change size and position. There were roughly 30 people injured during filming. Injuries ranged from a broken leg, to a cracked rib, to a broken cheekbone! The running time for the movie was 3 hours and 14 minutes. And it took 9 months to film. Jack claims to have gone ice fishing on Lake Wissota, which wasn't created until five years after the Titanic sank. Jack claims to have visited the Santa Monica Pier, which did not begin construction until 1916. The pipe frames supporting the third class berths have set-screw speed rail fittings, not developed until 1946. Margaret Brown was never referred to as "Molly" until after her death. In the scene where Jack is teaching Rose to spit, there is no spit on his chin as he starts to turn around to face the ladies, but by the time he has completed his turn he has some on his chin. The painting over the fireplace in the Titanic's first class smoking lounge in the film depicts New York Harbor, which was actually the painting on the Titanic's sister ship, "Olympic". The painter, Norman Wilkinson, had provided a scene of Plymouth Harbor for Titanic, but no pictures of this work survive. A closeup of Captain Smith reveals that he is wearing contact lenses. The main characters have lunch in the Palm Court/Verandah on A Deck. These were not used for dining, although passengers could order tea or a small snack. Cal orders lamb with mint sauce for himself and Rose. Lamb was only available for dinner on the ship, while mutton was reserved for lunch. The lamb was prepared in the D-Deck galley and would not have been served in the Palm Court. While Jack and Rose are walking on the promenade the day after he rescues her, a small hill with a building on it is visible over Jack's shoulder and above the ship. The button on the left side of Jack's borrowed jacket is a "Kingsdrew" button, first made in 1922. Jack takes Rose and Molly's arms to go into dinner. They start walking, but in the next shot they are still standing apart. Equipment and crew are reflected in the glass door opened for Jack as he enters the dining room. There was a factual error during the worship services held at 10:30am on Sunday April 14th, 1912. In the First Class Dining Room services were open to all passengers of the ship. "Almighty Father Strong To Save" is sung during the worship service; the two verses used in the film were written by Robert Nelson Spencer in 1937. Another factual error ocurred during the scene when Rose "flies" from the ship's bow. The sunlight is clearly falling almost exactly straight across the ship from left to right. On the evening of the 14th, the ship would be steaming somewhere between WSW and SW; the lighting in the movie would indicate that the sun is between SSE and SE, when it actually would have been between W and WNW. A mistake occurred in the same shot as above, when the faces of Jack and Rose are lit from a different angle, though still from the left. The length of Rose's fingernails change throughout the movie. Workers in the Titanic's engine room had to wear thick protective clothing to shield them from the heat generated by the engines. The gauges in the engine room are fitted with sweated tubing fittings, a plumbing technique not available when the ship was constructed. The fittings should have been threaded brass. A factual error regarding boiler room 6, was that there was no door between boiler room 6 and the cargo area (and no access to anyone except authorized crew). If there had been a door, it would have opened into the the third cargo area, not the one where the Renault was stored. More crew and equipment was visible in a brass panel on the front of the Renault that Jack and Rose find in the cargo hold. More factual errors when the radio operator sends out the "CQD" message. The pattern of dots and dashes he makes with the key is not intelligible Morse code. When Captain Smith enters the wheelhouse, the ship's telegraph is set to "Full Reverse" instead of "All Stop". The sea water would be at or below freezing point, yet the characters rarely display discomfort or disablement from being immersed. There was yet again another factual error when Jack is supposedly held prisoner in the Master-at-Arms' office, which is depicted as having a porthole. On the Titanic, this room was an interior room and hence would have no portholes. That porthole is shown to be several feet below water, yet a later shot from inside the room shows the surface of the water visible inches above the porthole. The distress rockets were fired by Quartermaster George Thomas Rowe, who was put in charge of the boat in which J. Bruce Ismay escaped. In the film, Rowe can be seen firing the rockets as his boat is lowered. Lifeboat #14 didn't have flashlights to use when looking for survivors in the water. Cameron knew this when making the film, but used the flashlights to provide lighting. It is impossible for voices to echo in the middle of the North Atlantic, unless there is a large, flat object like a ship nearby. We are shown a shot of Rose's view of the Statue of Liberty from a ship. Yet to obtain the view as indicated, she would of had to have been on land. Some artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic included a number made of paper, which were saved by being in leather bags or such; it is therefore possible for Jack's sketch of Rose to have survived as shown. The tugs that assisted the Titanic away from the Southampton dock did belong to the company known today as the Red Funnel Line, but they had not yet adopted that nickname or colour scheme. As shown in the film, the actual tugs had beige funnels. Although the Titanic's fourth smokestack was not an exhaust avenue for the ship's engines, it was used as an outlet for the Titanic's massive kitchen. Since the Titanic used coal stoves, some smoke would have been coming out of the fourth smokestack. In one of the flyovers of the ship, it is possible to see that most of the top of the fourth smokestack is sealed. In the suicide scene, one can clearly detect what looks to be like a tattoo visible on Rose's arm. It is actually a moon-shaped black dot - some embellishment that had come loose from her robe. It has been stated that the paintings in Rose's room are famous works that did not go down with Titanic. The paintings were by artists noted for creating many similar paintings. Although her fingers partially obscure it, the coin that Rose gives to Jack is generally agreed to be a Barber dime, minted 1892-1916. The Barber dime is distinctive because the portrait of Liberty on the head of the coin faces the right, not the left. After the iceberg is spotted, First Officer Murdoch bellows a helm order: "Hard-a-starboard!" But Quartermaster Hichens, manning the wheel, turns the wheel counter-clockwise, or to port. At first glance this would seem to be a mistake. The order itself, "Hard-a-starboard," was a holdover from earlier days when the tiller of a ship would be used to control the rudder. Pushing the tiller to the right (starboard) would cause the ship to turn to the left (port). So a turn to port was ordered by calling "hard-a-starboard." Sources differ on which way the wheel had to be turned to actually carry out this order. Director James Cameron is on record as being aware of the possible confusion that turning the wheel in the "wrong" direction might create, but decided to include it to be as accurate as possible. The "middle finger" gesture was used as early as the late 19th century. Young Rose's eyes appear green in some scenes due to colored lighting from flares, etc. The gun that Cal uses to go after Rose and Jack was a Colt 45M1911, created in 1910. The gun holds 7 bullets in the clip with an eighth in the chamber. Cal did not pull back the slide (which would have ejected a bullet) before shooting and fired exactly eight shots. There is much disagreement over the last song played by the band before the ship sank. Wallace Hartley's family firmly believed that it was "Nearer My God To Thee", which was was shown in the film, as do the majority of witnesses. Hartley's tombstone even bears the inscription "Nearer My God To Thee." According to Junior Wireless Operator Harold Bride, the band played the song "Songe d'Automne", which has some similar sections. The hymn itself has been set to at least three melodies in the nineteenth century, of which the American Lowell Mason's 1856 melody, heard in this film, is only one. There are two independent reports that an officer shot one or more passengers, gave a "military" salute, and then committed suicide. It is not known for sure if this was First Officer Murdoch or not. The lifeboats for RMS Titanic were in fact labeled "SS Titanic". This is verified by a photograph which appears on page 718 of National Geographic Magazine Vol. 168 no. 6 (December 1985). The credits explain that some dramatic license has been taken; this is apparent with several minor characters. For example, Benjamin Guggenheim's mistress, Madame Aubert, never dined in the First-Class Dining Saloon; she took all of her meals in the a la Carte restaurant on B Deck. Various other minute contradictions occur. This film is prey to a large number of factual errors due to the large volume of documentary evidence from the actual event. |