70 Fun Facts About Titanic (1997 Film)

Who plays Jack Dawson, the third-class artist at the heart of the film?

He was 21 when cast and turned down the lead in Boogie Nights to take the part, a choice he later said he regretted.

Which actress plays the young Rose DeWitt Bukater?

She lobbied hard for the part, sending Cameron a single rose with a card signed "From Your Rose" and telling him by phone, "I am Rose!"

Who plays Cal Hockley, Rose's arrogant fiancé and heir to a steel fortune?

Cameron first considered his Terminator regular Michael Biehn for the part, and Rob Lowe said he chased it too.

Which actress plays the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, who lends Jack a dinner suit?

The real Brown was labelled vulgar new money by first-class society but helped commandeer Lifeboat 6 during the sinking.

Who plays the elderly Rose who narrates the story in 1996?

Cameron did not know who she was when casting; he had asked for retired actresses from the Golden Age of the thirties and forties, and Fay Wray was also considered.

Bill Paxton's character, the treasure hunter searching the wreck, is called what?

Paxton had worked with Cameron on The Terminator and True Lies, and joined him on a real expedition to the wreck four years after the film.

What is the name of Jack's Italian best friend who boards the ship with him?

He is killed late in the film when one of the ship's funnels breaks loose and crashes into the water.

What is the name of the blue diamond necklace the treasure hunter is searching the wreck for?

London jewelers Asprey & Garrard made the prop from cubic zirconias set in white gold, and later produced a real 171-carat sapphire version that sold for $1.4 million.

When John Jacob Astor asks about his family at dinner, Jack says he is one of the Dawsons from where?

Astor asks whether he is connected to the Boston Dawsons; Jack deflects with his real hometown in Wisconsin.

How does Jack come by his third-class ticket for the voyage?

The scene was shot at the dockside pub set; his opponents were two Swedes whose tickets he pockets minutes before departure.

Who composed the film's score?

He and Cameron had fallen out badly on a previous film a decade earlier, but Cameron overlooked it after hearing his Braveheart score.

Which singer performs the end-credits song "My Heart Will Go On"?

She initially did not want to record it, having already sung the film songs "Beauty and the Beast" and "Because You Loved Me"; her husband René Angélil talked her into a demo.

Who wrote the lyrics to the film's Oscar-winning theme song?

He wrote them from the point of view of a person of great age looking back over many years, matching the elderly Rose's framing of the story.

Cameron wrote the screenplay listening to which Irish new-age musician, whom he first asked to score it?

He even cut a rough edit of the film to her music as a temp track, and the eventual composer wrote with her style in mind.

Which Norwegian singer performs the wordless vocals heard throughout the score?

The composer auditioned around 30 singers before choosing her, having fallen for her recording of "Eg veit i himmerik ei borg".

What was the film's production budget, the largest ever at the time?

That worked out at roughly $1 million per minute of screen time, and Fox executives panicked enough to ask for an hour of cuts.

Which studio partnered with 20th Century Fox to co-finance the film and took the US distribution rights?

Fox approached Universal first and was turned down; the eventual partner had just shared Braveheart with Fox and paid $65 million for domestic rights.

In which country did Fox build the studio and full-scale ship replica used for filming?

The site sits south of Playas de Rosarito on the Pacific coast; construction of the studio began on May 31, 1996, and the tank still overlooks the ocean today.

How much water did the exterior horizon tank at Baja Studios hold?

The pool gives a 270-degree ocean view and can be drained or filled in about 40 hours; it was drained too fast after the shoot and ruined local fishing waters.

How many Academy Awards did the film win at the 1998 ceremony?

The haul included Best Picture and Best Director but no acting or writing wins; it was the first Best Picture winner without a screenplay nomination since The Sound of Music.

Whose long-standing record for most Oscar wins did the film equal?

That 1959 chariot epic had held the mark alone for nearly four decades; The Return of the King joined the tie in 2004.

With 14 nominations, the film tied the record set in 1950 by which movie?

La La Land matched the same number in 2017, and only in 2026 was the record finally surpassed.

The film's Best Actress nominee lost to which performer?

The winner's film, As Good as It Gets, took both lead acting prizes that night thanks to Jack Nicholson's third Oscar.

At what age did the actress playing the elderly Rose become the oldest acting nominee in Oscar history?

She and the young Rose were also the first pair of performers ever nominated for playing the same character in the same film.

Cameron became the first person to win Oscars in which three roles on the same night?

The Best Picture prize was shared with co-producer Jon Landau, and the editing award with Conrad Buff and Richard A. Harris.

Which of Cameron's own films finally overtook Titanic as the highest-grossing film ever, in 2010?

Titanic had held the crown for twelve years; its sequel-free reign ended at the hands of the same writer-director.

Which film had held the worldwide box-office record before Titanic overtook it in 1998?

Steven Spielberg's dinosaur blockbuster from 1993 was also the film Titanic beat for the fastest run to $300 million domestically.

How many consecutive weeks did the film spend at number one at the North American box office?

The streak broke records held by Tootsie and Beverly Hills Cop, and was finally ended by Lost in Space in April 1998.

The film's world premiere took place on November 1, 1997, in which city?

Cameron refused to hold the premiere in Los Angeles; The New York Times described the reaction at the festival as "tepid".

The film was originally scheduled for release in which month of 1997 before being pushed to December?

The delay was blamed on unfinished effects; many read it as a sign the film was in trouble, and Event Horizon was moved up to fill the summer gap.

Cameron pitched the film to Fox executives with which three-word comparison?

The executives had hoped for action like his earlier films, and only approved the project hoping for a long-term relationship with him.

Cameron's original choice for Jack died in 1993 before the film was made. Who was he?

Later contenders included Tom Cruise, whose asking price was too high, and Jared Leto, who refused to audition.

Which actor was rejected for Jack because he refused to drop his Southern drawl?

Cameron nonetheless offered him the part of Cal Hockley, according to the film's casting history.

Which actress passed on Rose to star in Great Expectations instead?

Claire Danes, fresh from a Shakespeare adaptation with the future Jack, also felt the part was not right for her.

Whose hands actually drew Jack's sketch of Rose seen on screen?

The sketching scene was the two leads' first scene together, shot early because the big ship set was not ready.

Which drug was slipped into the Titanic crew's soup in Canada in August 1996, hospitalising more than 50 people?

Cameron vomited before it fully took hold, Paxton walked out of the hospital to drink beer on set, and the culprit was never caught.

What nickname did the crew give Cameron's supposed evil alter ego on set?

It is simply his first name spelled backwards; the shoot cemented his reputation as "the scariest man in Hollywood".

To ease the studio's pain over the ballooning costs, Cameron gave up his salary of how much?

He also surrendered his share of the initial gross, an offer Fox had first rejected as an empty gesture because they expected no profits.

A scene involving which nearby ship, whose radio was off during the sinking, was cut from the film?

Cameron said the sequence pulled focus away from the ship as a self-contained world; the rescue ship still appears at the end.

What injury did the actress playing Rose suffer during the shoot?

She also caught the cold and flu that swept the cast after hours in the water, and said she would not work with Cameron again unless paid a lot of money.

The shoot was planned at 138 days. How many did it actually take?

Filming officially wrapped on March 23, 1997, with three stuntmen having broken bones along the way.

The Grand Staircase set was built how much wider than the real one for visual grandeur?

It was also reinforced with steel, which did not stop 90,000 gallons of water ripping it from its foundations during the sinking shoot.

What is the film's running time?

The length meant theatres could fit only three showings a day instead of four, so many added midnight screenings that sold out.

Which side of the Titanic replica was built, forcing the Southampton departure scenes to be shot mirror-image?

Weather data showed a prevailing north-to-south wind that would blow the funnel smoke aft, so props, costumes and even stage directions were reversed.

Which astrophysicist's complaint led Cameron to redo the night-sky shot for the 2012 3D re-release?

It was the only scene entirely redone; the new sky shows the correct star pattern and Milky Way for the North Atlantic in April 1912.

Which territory earned the most from Titanic's 2012 3D re-release?

The reissue made $343.4 million worldwide, still the biggest re-release gross of all time, ahead of The Lion King and Star Wars.

What rare grade did opening-night audiences polled by CinemaScore give the film?

Fewer than 60 films earned that mark in the service's first three decades, from 1982 to 2011.

Which actor's Zombieland character says "I haven't cried like that since Titanic"?

The line plays on the film's reputation as one that makes men cry, an effect critics attributed to Jack's sense of adventure.

Complete the internet meme built on a close-up of the elderly Rose: "It's been ___ years."

The screenshot or GIF is used to complain about how slowly something is moving.

The elderly Rose was partly inspired by which American artist?

The ceramicist lived to 105 and died in 1998, a few months after the film's release.

A real 'J. Dawson' grave, which producers learned of only after release, lies in which city?

Fairview Cemetery there holds 121 victims of the sinking; fans began leaving flowers at the headstone.

Which TV show tested in 2012 whether both Jack and Rose could have survived on the floating door?

Cameron called the whole debate "kind of silly" at the 20th anniversary, then ran his own study for the 25th, which found it possible but unlikely.

According to the elderly Rose, what drove Cal to take his own life?

Rose says he married someone else and inherited his millions before the market wiped him out.

Which star reportedly threatened the studio if the film opened near his Air Force One in summer 1997?

His Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan franchises had been huge earners for the same studio, giving the threat weight.

Who plays Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder who tells Rose the sinking is a "mathematical certainty"?

The film shows him standing by the smoking-room clock as the ship goes down, a legend that came from a steward who had actually left in boat 15.

Which country singer turned down the role of Molly Brown because of her touring schedule?

The part went on to earn its eventual actress wider recognition than any role since Misery.

Which Welsh actor plays Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, the officer who rows back and rescues Rose?

The real Lowe was the only officer to take a lifeboat back to pick survivors out of the water.

A cut fight scene with Jack explains the gash on which character's face late in the film?

Cameron removed it for pacing after test audiences found risking your life for a necklace unrealistic.

The 1998 VHS release split the film across how many cassettes?

It sold 25 million copies in North America in three months and became the best-selling live-action video, beating Independence Day.

Per Tommy Mottola, how many takes did Celine Dion need for the 'My Heart Will Go On' vocal used in Titanic?

That demo vocal, produced by the composer and Simon Franglen, is what plays over the credits; the radio single was re-produced by Walter Afanasieff.

Fox estimated that what share of American teenage girls had seen the film twice by its fifth week?

The repeat rate overall was over 20% against a normal blockbuster's 5%, which is how a three-hour film kept selling out for months.

NBC bought the US television rights for a sum considered a bargain. How much?

The home video, meanwhile, was backed by more than $50 million of marketing alone.

Titanic was only the second film about the ship to win Best Picture. Which 1933 film was the first?

That Noël Coward adaptation featured a honeymooning couple aboard the doomed liner in one of its episodes.

Which parody jukebox musical retells the film using the songs of its theme singer?

It premiered in Los Angeles in 2017, went Off-Broadway in 2018, opened in the West End in 2024 and reached Broadway in 2026.

The film's female lead said in 2012 that hearing the theme song makes her feel like doing what?

The song has become fashionable to hate; Rolling Stone readers voted it the seventh-worst song of the 1990s.

Which Titanic star joined the director, female lead and theme singer in 2009 to pay survivor Millvina Dean's care fees?

Together the four contributed $30,000 toward Dean's care in Southampton.

Where did Titanic 3D hold its premiere on March 27, 2012?

General release followed on April 4, six days before the centenary of the maiden voyage; the same venue later hosted Titanic Live with a 130-piece orchestra.

Which earlier Cameron film went so badly for its composer that he swore never to work with him again?

The composer called those scoring sessions "a nightmare", but the Titanic reunion produced a partnership that lasted until his death in 2015.

What is the name of the Russian research vessel from which Brock Lovett's team dives to the wreck?

Cameron shot the real wreck 12 times in 1995, and the ship's own crew, including Mir pilot Anatoly Sagalevich, appear on screen.

Where did principal photography begin on July 31, 1996?

The modern-day scenes were shot first, before the move to the new Fox Baja Studios that September.