The studios wanted Matthew McConaughey, but Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio.


Before announcing development of this film, director James Cameron shot footage of icebergs off Nova Scotia under the pretence of making a film called "Planet Ice."


When James Cameron decided to include real footage of the Titanic's remains on the seabed, he did not want to simply shoot from inside a submersible as had been done for the IMAX documentary Titanica (1995). To allow filming from outside the sub, Cameron's brother Mike Cameron and Panavision developed a deep-sea camera system capable of withstanding the 400 atmospheres of pressure at that depth.


The deep-sea camera held only 12 minutes' worth of film, but each dive took many hours. To make the best use of his resources, James Cameron had a 1/33 scale model of the wreck constructed and used it to rehearse each dive. The Russian sub operators would walk around the model ship holding model subs in their hands as Cameron explained the shots he wanted. However, these rehearsals proved largely futile.

12 dives were necessary. On the last two dives, shots were taken by sending a remotely operated vehicle into the wreck; James Cameron had intended using this device only as a prop.


For some wreck interior shots, a set was constructed and submerged.


James Cameron went on the dives to the real Titanic himself, and found it an overwhelming emotional experience to actually see it. He ended up spending more time with the ship than its living passengers did.


Many of the paintings in the movie are authentic, such as Pablo Picasso's "The Guitar Player" flown in from the Musée national d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Most of the decor on the ship - from the carpet to the chandeliers - was reconstructed by, or under the supervision of, the original companies which furnished the Titanic.


When Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is preparing to draw Rose (Kate Winslet), he tells her to "Lie on that bed, uh I mean couch." The line was scripted "Lie on that couch", but DiCaprio made an honest mistake and James Cameron liked it so much he kept it in.


Jack's sketch of Rose wearing the necklace was drawn by James Cameron; it's his hands we see drawing the picture. Cameron also drew all the other pictures in Jack's sketchbook. See also the goofs entry.


The engine room scenes were partially filmed aboard the WWII ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien. Smaller railings and catwalks were installed to make the engines appear bigger.


In real life there was concern that the davits might not be strong enough to lower the boats fully loaded, although they had in fact been tested under such a weight. The davits in the film, which can be seen flexing under the weight, were made by the same company as the real-life ones.


The scene in which Rose meets Jack to thank him for saving her life was improvised by the two actors at James Cameron's request, and the spitting scene was almost all ad-lib. Cameron also credits Kate Winslet with writing the heart-wrenching "This is where we first met" line during the final sinking, as well as suggesting Rose spit in Cal's face rather than (as scripted) jab him with a hairpin.

120 tons of water was release for the final sinking scene.


At the departure scene the extras were filmed on a green screen in a parking lot.


A model was used for the ship in the background during the poker scene so the onlookers are missing


Most of the ocean which extras were jumping into was 3 feet deep.


Kate Winslet improvised with the line "Jack this is where we first met."


When the scene where a wall of water bursts through a doorway was first shot, James Cameron said that the 40,000 gallons of water dumped into the corridor set were not enough, and asked for triple that amount. The set had to be rebuilt to stand up under the additional weight of water.


James Cameron was adamant about not including any song in the movie, even over the closing credits. Composer James Horner secretly arranged with lyricist Will Jennings and singer Céline Dion to write "My Heart Will Go On" and record a demo tape, which he then presented to Cameron. The song won an Oscar.


After a sizable publicity campaign was prepared, release was delayed from summer to Christmas 1997 while postproduction (especially special effects) took longer than anticipated.


James Cameron originally wanted Enya to compose the score for the film and even went so far as to assemble a rough edit using her music. When Enya declined, Cameron hired James Horner to write the score (who had composed the music for Cameron's previous film Aliens (1986)). Horner stated that the tensions with Cameron were so high during post-production of Aliens (1986) that he assumed they would never work together again. However, Cameron was so impressed with Horner's score from Braveheart (1995) he was willing to overlook the past experience. According to some accounts, Horner independently decided the film's score should be done in Enya's style. As a result, several pieces of the score sound very similar to some well-known Enya songs, in particular her theme song for Far and Away (1992) (Book of Days).


The "full-size" ship exterior set was constructed in a tank on a beach south of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico. Construction started on the 85th anniversary of the real Titanic's launch - May 31, 1996 (see also A Night to Remember (1958)). To reduce costs, the number of instances of some repeated components (such as windows) was reduced, and other parts (such as the funnels and lifeboats) were built at 90% scale to produce the correct visual appearance. The set was oriented to face into the prevailing wind so that the smoke from the funnels would blow the right way.


All the scenes where there is an exterior sunset shot were filmed at the set in the Baja California, Mexico set.


In the scene where the water comes crashing into the Grand Staircase room, the film makers only had one shot at it because the entire set and furnishings were going to be destroyed in the shot.


In the scene in the beginning where the captain orders full-speed ahead and the shot moves down into the boiler room, the set was really just about three boilers but the film makers had huge mirrors installed to visualize a great big long room. (In this scene you can see workers shoving in coal, and about 20 feet down the room you can see the mirror image of the workers).

A 1/8 scale model of the ship's stern was also used.


Gloria Stuart, being only 86, was aged by makeup to play Rose at age 101. She did not find this a pleasant experience.


In preference to hiring new extras all the time and repeatedly having to fit them for clothes and coach them in proper 1912 mannerisms, a group of 150 "core extras" was hired who would stay with the picture through the entire production. They and other performers learned proper 1912 behavior in a 3-hour course from Lynne Hockney, who was also the film's choreographer. Hockney also produced a video "Titanic Etiquette: A Time Traveler's Guide", which was then left playing continuously in the wardrobe department.


Many of the "core extras" used for the movie took on characteristics of actual survivors -one scene where two little girls are loaded onto a lifeboat and he says "its only for a little while" is based on survivor testimony of one of the girls who survived.


On the final night of shooting in Nova Scotia, one or more pranksters mixed PCP (angel dust) into the clam chowder served to the cast and crew. 80 people were taken ill, many hospitalized with hallucinations. Bill Paxton felt listless for two weeks after the incident.

Why did that happened?

i mean, the people who suffered hallucinations n' that stuff..

I wish Enya would have done "Come Josephine, In My Flying Machine", would have been perfect. It's my understanding that Horner wanted her to do this song too. I'd still like to hear her do it.

Jessica

so what was the name of the name that performed Come Josephine??


lol James Horner really really has talent



cyaaa

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Yea, he do, you should see deep impact and the soundtrack look the same as titanic.

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One time i heard a comment that the food was bad and the water was freezing.

hahahaha poor them...