Titanic

Pre-production

Writing and inspiration

Director, writer and producer James Cameron (pictured in 2000)

The story could not have been written better had it been fiction ...The juxtaposition of rich and poor, the gender roles played out unto death (women first), the stoicism and nobility of a bygone age, the magnificence of the great ship matched in scale only by the folly of the men who drove her hell-bent through the darkness. And above all the lesson: that life is uncertain, the future unknowable ... the unthinkable possible.

—James Cameron[55][56]

James Cameron has long had a fascination with shipwrecks, and for him Titanic was "the Mount Everest of shipwrecks".[57][58][59] He was almost past the point in his life when he felt he could consider an undersea expedition, but said he still had "a mental restlessness" to live the life he had turned away from when he switched from the sciences to the arts in college. When an IMAX film, Titanica, was made from footage shot of the Titanic wreck, Cameron decided to seek Hollywood funding for his own expedition. It was "not because I particularly wanted to make the movie," Cameron said. "I wanted to dive to the shipwreck."[57]

Cameron wrote a scriptment for a Titanic film, met with 20th Century Fox executives including Peter Chernin, and pitched it as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic".[60][58][59] Cameron said the executives were unconvinced of the commercial potential, and had instead hoped for action scenes similar to his previous films.[20] They approved the project as they hoped for a long-term relationship with Cameron.[20][21][30]

Cameron convinced Fox to promote the film based on the publicity afforded by shooting the Titanic wreck, and organized several dives over a period of two years.[60][55] He also convinced Fox that shooting the real wreck for the film scenes, instead of simulating it with special effects, would provide value: "We can either do [the shots] with elaborate models and motion control shots and CG and all that, which will cost X amount of money – or we can spend X plus 30 per cent and actually go shoot it at the real wreck."[58]

The crew shot at the wreck in the Atlantic Ocean 12 times in 1995. The work was risky, as the water pressure could kill the crew if there were a tiny flaw in the submersible structure.[21] Additionally, adverse conditions prevented Cameron from getting footage.[21] During one dive, one of the submersibles collided with Titanic's hull, damaging both sub and ship, and leaving fragments of the submersible's propeller shroud scattered around the superstructure. The external bulkhead of the captain's quarters collapsed, exposing the interior, and the area around the entrance to the Grand Staircase was damaged.[61]

Descending to the site emphasized to the crew that the Titanic disaster was not simply a story but a real event with real loss of life. Cameron said: "Working around the wreck for so much time, you get such a strong sense of the profound sadness and injustice of it, and the message of it." He felt a "great mantle of responsibility" to convey the emotional message of the story, as he was aware there might never be another filmmaker to visit the wreck.[30]

Cameron felt the Titanic sinking was "like a great novel that really happened", but that the event had become a mere morality tale; the film would give audiences the experience of living the history.[55] The treasure hunter Brock Lovett represented those who never connected with the human element of the tragedy.[52] He believed that the romance of Jack and Rose would be the most engaging element: when their love is finally destroyed, the audience would mourn the loss.[55] He said: "All my films are love stories, but in Titanic I finally got the balance right. It's not a disaster film. It's a love story with a fastidious overlay of real history."[30]

After filming the underwater shots, Cameron began writing the screenplay.[60] He wanted to honor the people who died, and spent six months researching the Titanic's crew and passengers.[55] He created a detailed timeline of the events of the voyage and sinking and had it verified by historical experts.[58] From the beginning of the shoot, the team had "a very clear picture" of what happened on the ship. Cameron said "That set the bar higher in a way – it elevated the movie in a sense. We wanted this to be a definitive visualization of this moment in history as if you'd gone back in a time machine and shot it."[58] Cameron was influenced by the 1958 British film about Titanic, A Night to Remember, which he had seen as a youth. He liberally copied some dialogue and scenes, including the lively party of the passengers in steerage, and the musicians playing on the deck during the sinking.[62][31]

Cameron framed the romance with the elderly Rose to make the intervening years palpable and poignant.[55] While Winslet and Stuart believed Rose dies at the end of the film, Cameron said "the answer has to be something you supply personally; individually".[63][64][17]

Scale modeling

The reconstruction of Titanic. The blueprints were supplied by the original ship's builder and Cameron tried to make the ship as detailed and accurate as possible.[65][66]

Harland & Wolff, Titanic's builders, opened their private archives to the crew, sharing blueprints that were previously thought lost. For the ship's interiors, production designer Peter Lamont's team looked for artifacts from the era. The newness of the ship meant every prop had to be made from scratch.[65] Fox acquired 40 acres of waterfront south of Playas de Rosarito in Mexico and began building a new studio on May 31, 1996. A horizon tank of 17 million gallons was built for the exterior of the reconstructed ship, providing 270 degrees of ocean view. The ship was built to full scale, but Lamont removed redundant sections on the superstructure and forward well deck for the ship to fit in the tank, with the remaining sections filled with digital models. The lifeboats and funnels were shrunk by ten percent. The boat deck and A-deck were working sets, but the rest of the ship was steel plating. Within was a 50-foot lifting platform for the ship to tilt during the sinking sequences. The 60-foot 1/8th scale model of the stern section was designed by the naval architect Jay Kantola using plans of the Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic.[66] Above the model was a 162-foot-tall (49 m) tower crane on 600 feet (180 m) of rail track, acting as a combined construction, lighting, and camera platform.[52]

The sets representing the interior rooms of the Titanic were reproduced exactly using photographs and plans from the Titanic's builders. The Grand Staircase, which features prominently in the film, was recreated to a high standard, though it was widened 30% compared to the original and reinforced with steel girders. Craftsmen from Mexico and Britain sculpted the ornate paneling and plasterwork based on Titanic's original designs.[67] The carpeting, upholstery, individual pieces of furniture, light fixtures, chairs, cutlery and crockery with the White Star Line crest on each piece were among the objects recreated according to original designs.[68] Cameron hired two Titanic historians, Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, to authenticate the historical detail.[21]


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