69 Fun Facts About Titanic (1997 Film)

Who plays Jack Dawson, the third-class artist at the heart of the film?

He was 21 when cast and turned down the lead in Boogie Nights to take the part, a choice he later said he regretted.

Which actress plays the young Rose DeWitt Bukater?

Kate Winslet plays the young Rose; she lobbied Cameron for the part, sending him a single rose with a card signed "From Your Rose."

Who plays Cal Hockley, Rose's arrogant fiancé and heir to a steel fortune?

Billy Zane plays Cal Hockley, the Pittsburgh steel heir; Cameron had considered his Terminator regular Michael Biehn for the role before casting Zane.

Which actress plays the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, who lends Jack a dinner suit?

Kathy Bates plays Molly Brown, the new-money Denver millionairess who lends Jack her son's dinner suit; the real Margaret Brown rowed in Lifeboat 6 during the sinking.

Who plays the elderly Rose who narrates the story in 1996?

Gloria Stuart plays the elderly Rose; Cameron wanted a retired Golden Age actress, and Stuart, a 1930s Universal contract player, earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the role.

Bill Paxton's character, the treasure hunter searching the wreck, is called what?

Bill Paxton plays Brock Lovett, the treasure hunter; Paxton later joined Cameron's 2001 dive to the real wreck for the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss.

What is the name of Jack's Italian best friend who boards the ship with him?

Fabrizio De Rossi, played by Danny Nucci, is Jack's Italian friend; he dies when the ship's forward funnel breaks loose and crashes down on the swimmers.

What is the name of the blue diamond necklace the treasure hunter is searching the wreck for?

The Heart of the Ocean prop was made by London jewelers Asprey & Garrard from cubic zirconia set in white gold; a real sapphire-and-diamond version later sold at a 1998 charity auction for $1.4 million.

When John Jacob Astor asks about his family at dinner, Jack says he is one of the Dawsons from where?

When Astor asks if he is of the Boston Dawsons, Jack answers "the Chippewa Falls Dawsons, actually"; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is his hometown.

How does Jack come by his third-class ticket for the voyage?

Jack wins the ticket in a poker game at a dockside pub minutes before sailing, beating two Swedes, Olaf and Sven, with a full house.

Who composed the film's score?

James Horner composed the score; he and Cameron had clashed badly on an earlier film a decade before, but Cameron rehired him after admiring his Braveheart score.

Which singer performs the end-credits song "My Heart Will Go On"?

She initially did not want to record it, having already sung the film songs "Beauty and the Beast" and "Because You Loved Me"; her husband René Angélil talked her into a demo.

Who wrote the lyrics to the film's Oscar-winning theme song?

Will Jennings wrote the lyrics to "My Heart Will Go On," writing from the viewpoint of a very old woman looking back on her life, to match the elderly Rose.

Cameron wrote the screenplay listening to which Irish new-age musician, whom he first asked to score it?

Enya is the musician; Cameron wrote the script listening to her albums and asked her to score the film, and after she declined the score was composed in a similar Celtic style.

Which Norwegian singer performs the wordless vocals heard throughout the score?

Sissel Kyrkjebø sings the wordless vocals; the composer auditioned around 30 singers before choosing her after hearing her recording of "Eg veit i himmerik ei borg."

What was the film's production budget, the largest ever at the time?

The budget was $200 million, then the highest ever, roughly $1 million per minute of screen time; nervous Fox executives asked Cameron to cut an hour, which he refused.

Which studio partnered with 20th Century Fox to co-finance the film and took the US distribution rights?

Paramount Pictures co-financed the film, paying $65 million for US distribution rights while Fox kept international; the two studios had split Braveheart the same way two years earlier.

In which country did Fox build the studio and full-scale ship replica used for filming?

Mexico: Fox built its studio and the near-full-scale Titanic replica at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California, on the Pacific coast south of Tijuana, in 1996.

How much water did the exterior horizon tank at Baja Studios hold?

The horizon tank held 17 million gallons and offered a 270-degree view of the open Pacific, so the ship replica could be shot against a real ocean horizon.

How many Academy Awards did the film win at the 1998 ceremony?

Titanic won 11 of its 14 Oscar nominations at the 1998 ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director, but none for acting or writing.

Whose long-standing record for most Oscar wins did the film equal?

Ben-Hur, the 1959 chariot epic, had held the most-wins record alone for 38 years; Titanic tied it, and The Return of the King joined the tie in 2004.

With 14 nominations, the film tied the record set in 1950 by which movie?

All About Eve earned 14 nominations for 1950, a record Titanic tied in 1998 and La La Land matched in 2017.

The film's Best Actress nominee lost to which performer?

Helen Hunt won Best Actress for As Good as It Gets, which also took Best Actor for Jack Nicholson's third Oscar, beating Winslet's Rose.

At what age did the actress playing the elderly Rose become the oldest acting nominee in Oscar history?

She was 87 when nominated for Best Supporting Actress, then the oldest acting nominee ever; she and the young Rose's actress were the first pair nominated for playing one character in the same film.

Cameron became the first person to win Oscars in which three roles on the same night?

Cameron won as producer (Best Picture, shared with Jon Landau), director, and editor (shared with Conrad Buff and Richard A. Harris), the first person to take all three for one film.

Which of Cameron's own films finally overtook Titanic as the highest-grossing film ever, in 2010?

Avatar, Cameron's own 2009 film, passed Titanic's worldwide record in January 2010, ending a twelve-year reign.

Which film had held the worldwide box-office record before Titanic overtook it in 1998?

Jurassic Park, Spielberg's 1993 dinosaur blockbuster, had held the worldwide record at about $914 million until Titanic passed it in 1998.

How many consecutive weeks did the film spend at number one at the North American box office?

Titanic was number one for 15 consecutive weekends, from its December 1997 opening until Lost in Space finally displaced it in April 1998.

The film's world premiere took place on November 1, 1997, in which city?

Tokyo: the film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 1997, more than six weeks before its December 19 US release.

The film was originally scheduled for release in which month of 1997 before being pushed to December?

The film was slated for July 2, 1997, but unfinished effects pushed it to December 19; Paramount rushed Event Horizon into the vacated summer slot.

Cameron pitched the film to Fox executives as which famous love story aboard the Titanic?

Cameron sold Fox on the film as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic"; the executives wanted action like his earlier hits but approved it to keep him working with the studio.

Which actor, Cameron's original choice for Jack, died in 1993 before filming?

River Phoenix was Cameron's first choice for Jack but died in October 1993; later contenders included Tom Cruise, whose price was too high, and Jared Leto, who refused to audition.

Which actor was rejected for Jack because he refused to drop his Southern drawl?

Matthew McConaughey auditioned for Jack and, by his own account, declined a request to read again without his Texas accent; Cameron cast DiCaprio instead.

Which actress plays Ruth DeWitt Bukater, Rose's mother?

Frances Fisher plays Ruth DeWitt Bukater, Rose's widowed mother, who pushes the engagement to Cal because her late husband left the family nothing but debts.

Whose hands actually drew Jack's sketch of Rose seen on screen?

The director himself, James Cameron, drew the sketch on camera; because he is left-handed and Jack is right-handed, the shot was flipped in post-production.

Which drug was slipped into the Titanic crew's soup in Canada in August 1996, hospitalising more than 50 people?

PCP (angel dust) was stirred into the crew's chowder on the last night of the Canadian shoot in August 1996; more than 50 people were hospitalized and the culprit was never identified.

What nickname did the crew give Cameron's supposed evil alter ego on set?

"Mij" — Jim spelled backwards — was the crew's name for Cameron's tyrannical on-set alter ego during the notoriously grueling Titanic shoot.

To ease the studio's pain over the ballooning costs, Cameron gave up his salary of how much?

Cameron forfeited his $8 million directing fee and his percentage of the profits as costs soared, a gesture Fox had earlier dismissed as empty because it expected no profit.

A scene involving which nearby ship, whose radio was off during the sinking, was cut from the film?

The SS Californian, stopped in ice nearby with its wireless operator asleep, was cut; Cameron felt its scenes broke the sense of Titanic as a self-contained world.

What injury did the actress playing Rose suffer during the shoot?

Kate Winslet chipped a bone in her elbow during the water scenes, caught flu and feared drowning, and later said she would work with Cameron again only for "a lot of money."

How many days did the Titanic shoot take, well over its planned schedule?

Filming took 160 days against a planned 138, wrapping on March 23, 1997, by which point three stuntmen had broken bones.

Which actor plays Captain Edward J. Smith?

Bernard Hill plays Captain Edward J. Smith, who retreats to the wheelhouse as the windows burst; Hill later played King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings.

What is the film's running time?

The film runs 3 hours 14 minutes (194 minutes), a length Fox executives feared would limit theaters to three showings a day instead of four.

Which side of the Titanic replica was built, forcing the Southampton departure scenes to be shot mirror-image?

Only the starboard side was built; Southampton's port-side departure was therefore shot mirror-image, with signs and costumes reversed, because the site's prevailing wind blew the funnel smoke correctly only that way.

Which astrophysicist's complaint led Cameron to redo the night-sky shot for the 2012 3D re-release?

Neil deGrasse Tyson complained that the stars over the drifting Rose were wrong; Cameron had him supply the correct April 1912 star field, the only shot changed for the 2012 3D re-release.

Which territory earned the most from Titanic's 2012 3D re-release?

China was the top territory for the 2012 3D reissue, contributing about $145 million of its roughly $343 million worldwide, the largest re-release gross ever at the time.

What rare grade did opening-night audiences polled by CinemaScore give the film?

Fewer than 60 films earned that mark in the service's first three decades, from 1982 to 2011.

Which actor's Zombieland character says "I haven't cried like that since Titanic"?

Woody Harrelson, as Tallahassee in Zombieland (2009), says it after Bill Murray's death scene, playing on Titanic's reputation for making grown men cry.

Complete the internet meme built on a close-up of the elderly Rose: "It's been ___ years."

The screenshot or GIF is used to complain about how slowly something is moving.

The elderly Rose was partly inspired by which American artist?

Beatrice Wood, the ceramicist known as the "Mama of Dada," partly inspired the elderly Rose; she died in March 1998 at 105, a few months after the film's release.

A real 'J. Dawson' grave, which producers learned of only after release, lies in which city?

Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fairview Lawn Cemetery holds 121 Titanic victims, including trimmer Joseph Dawson, whose "J. Dawson" headstone drew fans' flowers after the film; Cameron said he had never known of him.

Which TV show tested in 2012 whether both Jack and Rose could have survived on the floating door?

MythBusters tested the door in 2012 with Cameron himself taking part; its hosts concluded both could have survived, and Cameron later ran his own study for the film's 25th anniversary.

According to the elderly Rose, what drove Cal to take his own life?

Rose says he married someone else and inherited his millions before the market wiped him out.

Who plays Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder who tells Rose the sinking is a "mathematical certainty"?

Victor Garber plays Thomas Andrews; the film's image of him by the smoking-room clock comes from steward John Stewart's account, though Stewart left in boat 15 well before the end.

Which country singer turned down the role of Molly Brown because of her touring schedule?

Reba McEntire has said she was cast as Molly Brown but withdrew when the delayed shoot collided with her concert tour dates; the part went to Kathy Bates.

Which Welsh actor plays Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, the officer who rows back and rescues Rose?

Ioan Gruffudd plays Fifth Officer Harold Lowe; the real Lowe took Lifeboat 14 back into the wreckage, the only officer to return for swimmers, which the film recreates with Rose's rescue.

A cut fight scene with Jack explains the gash on which character's face late in the film?

Lovejoy, Cal's valet, has an unexplained cut on his cheek because the deleted fight with Jack in the flooding dining saloon was removed, Cameron judging his chase for the diamond unconvincing.

The 1998 VHS release split the film across how many cassettes?

The September 1998 VHS came on two cassettes, the film being too long for one tape; it sold around 25 million copies in North America within months.

Per Tommy Mottola, how many takes did the singer need for the film's theme vocal?

One take: Sony's Tommy Mottola said Dion nailed the demo vocal in a single take; that recording, produced by the composer and Simon Franglen, is the version heard over the credits.

Fox estimated that what share of American teenage girls had seen the film twice by its fifth week?

Fox estimated that 7% of American teenage girls had seen the film twice by its fifth week; repeat viewings by young women drove its unprecedented staying power at the box office.

How much did NBC pay for the film's US television rights, considered a bargain?

NBC paid $30 million for the US broadcast rights, seen as a bargain next to the film's $600 million domestic theatrical gross.

Which 1933 Best Picture winner shows a honeymooning couple aboard the Titanic?

Cavalcade, the 1933 adaptation of Noël Coward's play, won Best Picture and includes an episode in which honeymooners Edward and Edith are revealed, via a lifebelt, to be aboard the Titanic.

Which parody jukebox musical retells the film using the songs of its theme singer?

Titanique, by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue, retells the film through Celine Dion's catalogue with Dion herself as narrator; it opened Off-Broadway in 2022 after a 2017 Los Angeles debut.

The film's female lead said in 2012 that hearing the theme song makes her feel like doing what?

Kate Winslet said in a 2012 interview that hearing "My Heart Will Go On" makes her feel like throwing up, after fifteen years of having it played at her wherever she went.

Which real passenger, the ship's last living survivor, died in 2009 aged 97?

Millvina Dean, a two-month-old third-class passenger when the ship sank, was the last living survivor; she died in May 2009 aged 97, and the film's stars had helped pay her care-home fees.

Where did Titanic 3D hold its premiere on March 27, 2012?

The 3D version premiered at London's Royal Albert Hall on March 27, 2012, and went on general release on April 4, six days before the centenary of the maiden voyage.

Which earlier Cameron film went so badly for its composer that he swore never to work with him again?

Aliens (1986): Horner was given far too little time to score it, called the sessions a nightmare, and vowed never to work with Cameron again; their Titanic reunion held until Horner's death in 2015.

What is the name of the Russian research vessel from which Brock Lovett's team dives to the wreck?

The Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, the real Russian research ship that carried Cameron's twelve 1995 wreck dives, plays itself, with Mir pilot Anatoly Sagalevich appearing on screen.

Where did principal photography begin on July 31, 1996?

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia: the modern-day scenes aboard the real Russian research ship were shot first, from July 1996, before production moved to the new Fox Baja Studios in September.