Half-Assed Internet Research
Robert De Niro was offered Captain Smith but declined over a gastrointestinal infection (unverified IMDb); Winslet improvised spitting at Billy Zane instead of stabbing him with a hairpin (unverified); the film was Cameron's pitch to get a studio to pay for dives to the wreck; Cameron was difficult on set and Winslet swore never to work with him again (unsourced IMDb); the 2h47 runtime matches how long the ship took to sink (unverified); the drawing scene was Winslet and DiCaprio's first scene together and Cameron did the drawing
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:40Read transcript
- An unverified IMDb item says Robert De Niro was offered Captain Smith but turned it down because of a gastrointestinal infection; the hosts find the specificity absurd and say there is no way De Niro would have taken the role.
- The scene in which Kate Winslet spits at Billy Zane was reportedly improvised: he did not know he would be spat at, and she was supposed to stab him with a hairpin; the hosts hope it reflects on-set tension.
- Billy Zane is called fantastic in the film and perhaps the best pure acting performance, with the most to work with, believable as a man with everyone in his pocket; the necklace, Le Coeur de la Mer, is recalled as the propulsive force of the plot.
- The whole movie was a pitch to get a studio to pay for James Cameron to dive to the Titanic, and he ended up spending more time with the ship than anyone who rode its one voyage.
- Research on how difficult James Cameron was during filming: Kate Winslet, studio executives and everyone on set describe him as demanding and cursing a lot, Winslet had a horrific experience, Leo seems to have hated it too but is more diplomatic, and an IMDb item the host could not source says Winslet swore never to work with him again.
- Unverified half-assed trivia holds that the film's runtime, two hours and 47 minutes, matches how long the Titanic took to go down (the transcript has 'save'); the hosts find it tacky but very James Cameron, like the iceberg hitting exactly mid-film.
- More trivia: the first scene Kate and Leo shot together was the nude drawing scene, James Cameron made the drawing, and the shot was reversed so the left-handed Cameron would look right-handed, setting the tone on day one of principal photography.