Titanic - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[tom]

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.

[nora]

We see a priest performing the last rites for some of the passengers during the sinking; we see a priest do the same for Marcus Wright who's awaiting execution in Terminator Salvation (2009), and James Cameron directed the first two Terminator films. Also, John Connor calls Marcus a pretty convincing liar, which paraphrases Cal's line to Jack.

[melinda]

In all of recorded maritime history, no ship ever had a sideswipe collision with an iceberg like Titanic suffered. And no ship has had such an accident since. The force of the blow was likened to a C4 explosion something most modern ships would struggle to survive.

[sandra]

Despite being an accomplished scuba diver, Leonardo DiCaprio really hated being in cold water, so much that James Cameron jokingly called him a "Persian cat". However, Kate Winslet needed the water to be cold to help her performance, so DiCaprio just had to get used to the temperature, which usually took a few minutes prior to each scene, and some coaxing by Winslet. He later said that making the film "made a man out of me".

[lonnie]

A recent investigation showed that if Titanic had hit the iceberg head-on, she would have survived. Though damaged she would not have sunk and would have reached New York -- maybe a day or two late.

[mathew]

The three actors who play Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), Lewis Bodine (Lewis Abernathy) and the third-class Chinese pony-tailed passenger (Van Ling) are best friends and frequent collaborators of director James Cameron in real life.

[tamara]

James Cameron forfeited his $8 million upfront director's salary and his percentage of the initial gross when the studio became concerned at how much over budget the movie was running; he would only receive a back-end percentage in case the film would do exceptionally well. He noted that initial compliments over the raw footage became more sparing over time as the costs spiraled out of control, and the studio heads at 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures "acted like they'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer" as the release date drew near. Even Cameron himself was at one point convinced that the film would bomb, and he would never work again; analysts had predicted a total loss of at least $100 million, so he could only hope to at least make a very good film. At one point, he ran into Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch, and told him "I guess that I'm not your most favorite person in the world, but the movie is going to be good". Murdoch simply replied "It better be a damn sight better than 'good'."

[frances]

The Titanic Belfast Maritime Museum Ireland opened 31 March 2012, commemorating the centenary of the great ship's demise. Construction began in May 2009 and cost £77 million sterling by completion. The 9 self-guided state-of-the-art interactive galleries are located on the very Harland & Wolff shipyard site where Titanic was originally built.

[bernard]

This was the first movie to win both the Academy and MTV Movie Award for Best Picture.

[jamie]

According to James Cameron, the ending is meant to be ambiguous regarding whether or not Rose dies, so as to allow the audience to decide. Many fans claim that Old Rose is simply dreaming, while others claim that she has died and gone to heaven (being a restored Titanic), along with everyone who died when the ship sank. The screenplay confirms this intentional ambiguity: "We PAN OFF the last picture to Rose herself, warm in her bunk. A profile shot. She is very still. She could be sleeping, or maybe something else."

[cameron]

Of the special effects houses involved, VIFX were responsible for the icy, visible breath of the passengers floating in the water after the ship sank. They also worked on the engine room sequence and a lot of the workers seen therein. POP Film handled digital face replacements and matte paintings, Banned from the Ranch took care of some underwater shots, CIS Hollywood were responsible for sky replacements and bluescreen composites, whilst Digital Domain - James Cameron's own company - dealt with the bulk of the big showcase special effects.

[kylie]

James Cameron supervised all of the underwater shots of the Titanic himself.

[wallace]

James Cameron met his fifth wife, Suzy Amis, on the set of this film. He was technically still married to Linda Hamilton but they had been living apart for some time. Of all his marriages, the one with Amis has lasted the longest.

[kristen]

James Cameron admitted the expectations on Avatar (2009) were daunting but that was to be expected after making Titanic (1997).

[jessie]

Rose laughs during the flying scene when Jack sings "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine," as if she recalls the song from before. This is because a deleted scene shows the two characters singing it as they come out of the third-class dance.

[tom]

The line "Now you may get your headline, Mr. Ismay." is the last phrase in the film before the cut off in the double disc version of the film.

[christina]

When the Oscars for "Best Sound Effects Editing" were presented for this film, the oversized envelope was given to category presenter Mike Myers by Bart the Bear, the enormous grizzly who appeared on stage with his owner/trainer Doug Seus (March 23, 1998 / Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles).

[victoria]

As the elderly Rose exits the helicopter in her wheelchair, she is holding her pet Pomeranian. This is in tribute to the 12 confirmed dogs on the Titanic. Only three pets survived: two Pomeranians and one Pekinese which, due to their small size, were smuggled onto lifeboats.