The then-most expensive film ever produced around 1996-97, James Cameron’s multi-Oscar winning historical drama defied expectations, considering the last film about the TITANIC, RAISE THE TITANIC (1980) sank Lew Grade’s ITC studios, an adaptation of a Clive Cussler novel featuring his long-term hero Dirk Pitt.
Co-financed by Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox – and filmed on a recently built studio in Rosarita, New Mexico, where a full size half version of the infamous ship that could not sink was built (Cameron flipped the image for certain sequences, completing the illusion thanks to digital visual effects), TITANIC proved to be one of the biggest hits when it bowed in cinemas in the US, topping the charts for several weeks and – in a rarity – actually increased its’ box-office takings as the release continued, as well as making its’ hefty costs back within a couple of months, making Cameron the most successful financially in terms of achievement.
Salvage merchant Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton, ALIENS, EDGE OF TOMORROW) is conducting an operation around the deck of Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic, keep to retrieve the legendary diamond ‘The Heart of The Ocean). He manages to bring up the safe where the jewel was hidden on the night of the sinking, but when he opens it up, all he finds is a painting of a woman wearing the jewel, with the legend ‘JD’.
When interviewed, his discovery perks up the interest of elderly woman Rose Calvert (Gloria Stuart) who reveals that the woman in the picture is none other than – herself.
Flown to the salvage ship, she then recounts the events leading up to and including the night of the sinking, when as a young woman (Kate Winslet) she met a young artist on the ship in Third Class by the name of Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) whilst engaged to her fiancé Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Their first meeting is on the bow of the ship, when Rose is keen to commit suicide, but Jack talks her back and is invited to a first-class dinner with Cal and others.
However, Jack is causing a lot of jealousy from Cal, especially after Rose joins Jack for a party in the lower decks and Jack is banned from mixing with her. However, destiny calls and the choice between and iceberg and an icy reception from Rose’s fiancé are the challenge….
Spectacular visual effects, a touch of romance and of course, a certain song by Celine Dion add to the appeal of a film that catapulted DiCaprio into the stratosphere on the back of his success in Baz Luhrmann’s WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO + JULIET (1996). Winslet was also catapulted to superstardom and Oscar acclaim (THE READER).
Cameron went on to direct AVATAR (2009) and is currently in the process of completing the upcoming sequels.