I have no idea why they decided to premiere this film in Tokyo nearly a month before the rest of the world but that is exactly what they did. It first was shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival and as "gaga" as that country was for Leonardo DiCappuccino, the reviews were described as "average." I don't know if that concerned Paramount and Fox a great deal but it went on to be the highest grossing film of all time.
The year was 1997
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Leo looks like he was 14 but had recently celebrated his 25th birthday
There are a lot of people out there that will say that Titanic is over-rated and if you are one of those people I completely disagree with you. I think Leonardo DiCaprio is overrated, and wasn't surprised when his usual shouting of all of his lines failed to get a nod from any real award committee. However, to defend Leo a bit, almost no one else was nominated for any major awards in this production and only Gloria Stuart (the really old version of Rose Dawson) won any personal accolades out of the entire cast. Leo won an MTV award but those don't count, do they?
The film however, ended up winning 11 Academy Awards, all of them non-acting-related, and at the time was only the 2nd film to ever accomplish this feat.
Even if you are one of those people who likes to hate on this film I strongly encourage you to seek out some behind-the-scenes videos of this absolutely massive undertaking. It is truly impressive, not to mention exceptionally dangerous. After you watch a few of those clips, it is easy to understand how this film cost $200 million to create. link 1 link 2 link 3
Perhaps this isn't as unknown as I would like it to be, but James Cameron insisted that a near full-size replica of the Titanic had to be constructed and that's exactly what they did at great expense. The film, predictably went wildly over budget and there were calls to make the film shorter but Cameron refused and as a compromise forfeit his direction and production fees but let's not feel terribly bad for ol' Jimmy, he will still end up making more than $50 million after Titanic managed to pull in around $2 billion.
On a personal note: I went to see Titanic in the Theater 3 times and I have never done this for any other film other than Empire Strikes Back and this was only because there were multiple releases / versions of the film. I saw the same Titanic film 3 times because I found the special effects to be so eerie because like many other people, i have a profound fear of deep water and also sinking ships (I frequently dream about exactly this.)
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Personally, i think Billy Zane deserved a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination
I think a great many other people saw this film multiple times in theaters and here is another tidbit of info: Titanic is the only film to still be in theaters without a break when the film was released on VHS (remember those?) and DVD nearly a year later.
Here are a few other fun facts about this film in case you give a crap.
- There actually was a J. Dawson on the real Titanic voyage. James Cameron had no idea this was the case when he wrote the script
- Matthew McConaughey was the original choice for Jack Dawson, not Leo. It is difficult for me to imagine him the role because he isn't childlike enough. I would have enjoyed some "alright alright alright" moments in particular scenes though.
- During a shoot in Canada, a disgruntled crew member put PCP in a catered soup that resulted in 50 people, including Bill Paxton, being sent to the hospital.
- James Cameron was exceptionally thorough in his vision including giving personal direction to extras on the set. I have been an extra on many lower-budget sets and this never happens. The extras are just an afterthought, normally receiving very basic instructions from production assistants or lower level management.
- There are only 2 other films to exceed Titanic's box office draw and one of the other ones, Avatar, was also a James Cameron project
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what did you look like at 25 years of age? Not like this is bet
Maybe not for you, i suppose it depends on how old you are; but for me it is hard to believe that this movie is more than 20 years old. It makes me a little sad to think about that being the case. However, if you were to go back and look at it today, I don't think there is anything in the movie that looks even remotely fake. I was in my early 20's when it was released and for me this film was absolutely epic even though I don't much care for Leonardo outside of Blood Diamond.
An undertaking of this magnitude in film had never happened before and there were many points during the film's creation that the studios were getting extremely worried about rising costs and many were predicting heavy losses on the film - I bet they were delighted when the $2 billion thing happened.
What do you think? Are you a Titanic hater or are you like me and think the film does have some flaws (Leo / Kate) but overall is an amazing film? I'd be interested to know your thoughts.