Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:21, 30 December 2004

Titanic is a 1997 dramatic movie released by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The bulk of the plot is set aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic during her fateful maiden voyage in 1912. The movie won 11 Academy Awards on March 23, 1998 including best picture of 1997. Titanic has the highest box office take in movie history. The 1997 film is not to be confused with the Titanic movie made in 1953.

Making the film

The film was directed by James Cameron and starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates, Eric Braeden, David Warner, Danny Nucci, Gloria Stuart, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill, Bernard Fox, Ioan Gruffudd and Bill Paxton.

When this epic disaster film was not finished in time for its scheduled July 1997 release date, it sent shockwaves throughout Hollywood: studio execs began wondering if they might have another Heaven's Gate on their hands. The two releasing studios, 20th Century Fox (which handled the international distribution and actually had movie rights to the Titanic name) and Paramount Pictures (which had the U.S. rights) panicked. By the middle of 1997 Titanic had become the most costly film ever made (its reported cost hovered in the $200 million range) and the bills were still coming in. When director James Cameron finally delivered the film to Paramount, it ran over 3 hours and it was anyone's guess whether he would ever work in Hollywood again. But Cameron stood his ground and threatened edit-happy studio executives with the message: "You will cut my film over my dead body."

Moved to a crowded release date of December 19, 1997, the film opened with little promotion, but brought in a respectable $US28 million in ticket sales for the weekend. Within a week the gross tripled. By New Year's Day, the film had hit $US100 million and showed no sign of slowing down. It held a virtual lock on first place at the box office for nearly four months and would become the highest grossing film of all-time with more than $US 1.8 billion in ticket sales worldwide.

Cameron, who fought tooth and nail to finish the film, was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Director.

Criticism

There are some factual inaccuracies in the script: for example, the designer, Thomas Andrews, claims the ship to be built of iron in the film whereas she was actually built of steel. The "romantic" story is improbable as class distinction at the time meant complete class segregation except during the Sunday morning service in the first class dining saloon (which conversely is shown in the film as segregated). The film is believed to be anti-British, reducing the historic story to a fight between villainous British officers and crew and heroic Americans.

The 1958 William MacQuitty and Roy Ward Baker film A Night to Remember starring Kenneth More as Second Officer Charles Lightoller is considered by some to be a more historically accurate film, praised for its documentary-style quality. The film was made in 1958 and at this point it was believed that the ship sank as a whole, and the film's sinking is depicted thus.

The film was criticised for its portrayal of a historical character, the ship's First Officer, William McMaster Murdoch . In his home town of Dalbeattie in Scotland there is a memorial to his heroism and a charitable prize has been established in his name. In the film he is portrayed as taking a bribe, shooting passengers dead and finally shooting himself. 20th Century Fox admitted they had no evidence that Murdoch did these things and contributed $8,000 to the prize fund.

Another aspect of the film, the way in which the third class passengers were completely fenced in below decks, has been described as a myth .

Soundtrack

Cameron originally intended Enya to compose the music, but after she declined, he proposed to James Horner. Their relations were cold after their first cooperation in Aliens, but the soundtrack of Braveheart made Cameron overlook it. Horner composed the soundtrack having in mind Enya's style.

Céline Dion, who was no stranger to movie songs in the 1990s, sang My Heart Will Go On, the film's signature song written by James Horner and Will Jennings. At first, Cameron did not want a song sung over the film's credits, but Horner disagreed, and without telling Cameron, went ahead and wrote one anyway, and recorded Dion singing it. Cameron changed his mind when Horner presented what he proposed, an excellent decision, as the song won a Best Original Song Oscar. The song was also a hit worldwide, going to the top of the pop charts around the world, another stellar financial success of its own.

US awards

Titanic won Oscars in just about every category except for the acting and screenplay categories. Titanic was nominated in 14 categories and won 11, being the second movie to win that number (the first was Ben Hur). It was at the time also the only movie of which both two people playing the same person (Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart as Rose and Old Rose) were nominated (remarkably, the second film to be so nominated, Iris_(2001), also starred Winslet):

1. Art direction — Art Direction: Peter Lamont; Set Decoration: Michael Ford
2. Cinematography — Russell Carpenter
3. Costume Design — Deborah L. Scott
4. Direction — James Cameron
5. Film Editing — Conrad Buff, James Cameron, Richard A. Harris
6. Music (Original Dramatic Score) — James Horner
7. Music (Original Song) — "My Heart Will Go On," music by James Horner; lyric by Will Jennings
8. Best Picture — James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
9. Sound — Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, Mark Ulano
10. Sound Effects Editing — Tom Bellfort, Christopher Boyes
11. Visual Efects — Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, Michael Kanfer

It also received the following nominations:

1. Best Actress in a Leading Role — Kate Winslet
2. Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Gloria Stuart
3. Best Makeup — Tina Earnshaw, Greg Cannom, Simon Thompson

Aftermath

Despite being the highest grossing film of all time, Titanic was voted the #1 worst film ever by viewers of the BBC's Film 2003 program. The host of the show, Jonathan Ross, commented on this, saying: "May I commend the nation on its choice."

See also

• RMS Titanic

External links

• Titanic official website
• Titanic at IMDb
• Titanic in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies

• 1997 films
• AFI 100 Passions
• AFI 100 Thrills
• Disaster movies
• Best Picture Oscar