By Stephen Schochet
Studio
executives in High Concept Hollywood have very short attention
spans. When pitching a film idea, many believe if you can't
do it in one sentence it is an unmarketable product. For example
Planet Of the Apes (1968) starring Charlton Heston was pitched
by producer Arthur Jacobs as "Moses Talks To Monkeys".
Passenger 57 (1992) with Wesley Snipes was known as "Diehard
On a Plane." Director James Cameron, despite a strong track
record with films like Aliens (1986) and True Lies (1994) knew
he would have a tough selling job after he went deep sea diving
with Dr. Robert Ballard to glimpse the remains of the RMS Titanic.
He became so emotionally involved by the experience that the
sinking of the famous luxury liner in 1912 had to be the subject
of his next picture. His pitch to the nervous executives at
Twentieth Century Fox was," Romeo and Juliet on a doomed
ship." There was a tense pause and Cameron said, "Also
fellas it's a period piece, it's going to cost $150,000,000
and there's not going to be a sequel." Fox, a studio which
had known great success with both The Love Boat (1977-1986)
TV show and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was dubious about
the idea's commercial prospects. But wanting a long term relationship
with Cameron they gave him a green light.
Previous
movie versions of the Titanic had focused on the historical
aspects of the ship hitting the iceberg, so Cameron decided
to play up the fictional love story. After Gywneth Paltrow turned
down the female lead, Kate Winslet campaigned for it heavily
by sending Cameron daily notes from England stating, "I'm
your Rose." Her persistence led Cameron to invite her to
Hollywood for auditions. One of her screen test partners Leonardo
DiCaprio, impressed her so much she whispered to Cameron,"
He's great. Even if you don't pick me, pick him." Cameron
picked them both, but Leonardo was harder to convince. Playing
a romantic lead in a blockbuster just didn't seem cool. Cameron
told him," I know what you want. You want to play him with
a deformity or a limp. Well, it's lot harder playing a nice
guy like Jimmy Stewart then one of those freaky, weirdo characters."
Freaks and weird character portrayals often take home Oscars,
but DiCaprio agreed to play the part.
For
a major Hollywood production the star salaries were relatively
low, Leonardo DiCaprio made the most at $2,500,000. The biggest expense
of the film was building the ship, it required the construction
of a entirely new studio in Rosarito Beach. Cameron's attention
to historical detail was evident down to the carpets, the grand
staircase, the Picasso paintings and the 1911 touring car that
Jack and Rose made love in. But other aspects of the film were
less accurate. There was no evidence that on the real life Titanic
people in third class were blocked from reaching the upper decks
and the lifeboats, the emphasis was on rescuing the women and
children, the richest man on board the ship actually died. In
the film, First Officer William Murdoch was portrayed as a coward
who shot passengers, in real life he was a hero which caused
James Cameron to apologize to his surviving relatives. And Leonardo's
character Jack was based on an unattractive coal miner, who
never left the bottom decks, let alone met someone like Rose.
Cameron,
temperamental in the best of times, was surviving on three hours
sleep and saved most of his screaming for the film crew. His
philosphy was you couldn't get great perfomances out of the
actors by yelling. In one scene, Winslet and DiCaprio were running
away from a huge wave on one of the decks and the actress was
submerged and nearly drowned. Moments after she was rescued
Cameron calmly said," OK. Let's do it again."
As
the costs began to mount along with the stories of the director's
slow pace and temper tantrums, the Fox executives began to freak
out. They suggested an hour of specific cuts from the three
hour film. They argued the extended length would mean less showings
thus less money. But long epics are more likely to help directors
bring home Oscars, and Cameron was more defiant than DiCaprio.
"You want to cut my movie? You're going to have to fire
me!" You want to fire me? You're going to have to kill
me!" The executives, knowing that starting from scratch
meant their entire investment would be gone, did neither. They
also rejected Cameron's offer of forfeiting his share of the
profits as an empty gesture; they were sure there wouldn't be
any.
With
more special effects being added Titanics's release date was
moved back from summer to Christmas 1997. At one point Cameron
visited the Twentieth Century Fox studio headquarters to request
permission to shoot additional footage and ran smack dab into
company chairman Rupert Murdoch (no relation to William) in
the hallway. After months of fiercely ordering people about,
the self proclaimed "King of the World" could not
look his real boss in the eye. "Uh hi. Uh I know I'm not
your favorite person spending all your money. But I guarantee
you the movie will be good." Murdoch, with a glint of steel
in voice, replied. "Young man, it had be better be better
than good!"
Thanks
largely to repeated viewings from young girls, the film made
more money than any other picture in history. It tied Ben Hur
(1959) for the most Oscars (11) although it was not even nominated
for Best Original Screenplay. The Fox Executives were more relieved
than euphoric and promised no more $200,000,000 movies, they
felt like they had dodged a bullet. DiCaprio who infuriated
the studio by refusing to promote the film and show up at the
Academy Awards, became a $10,000,000 per picture star, was chased
down streets by adoring young females, and later called the
whole Titanic craze," kind of an empty experience".
Winslet, who at one point during the shoot woke up and said,
"God I wish I was dead", moved back happily into smaller
independent films. Cameron got his original profit share and
continued to lose his temper, suggesting a film critic who panned
Titanic be impeached. He reflected later that movie prices had
to be raised to fifteen dollars to pay for overblown budgets.
"People would be mad for six months and then they would
come back. Of course I wouldn't want one of my movies coming
out during those six months.
Stephen Schochet tells Hollywood Stories on radio, audiobooks, tours and speaking engagements. To hear more tales go to http://www.hollywoodstories.com.
