25 years ago today, moviegoers saw for the first time how Rose and Jack fallin love aboard the Titanic, and how that love ends in the icy waters intowhich the ship sinks. The film Titanic of James Cameron is the third mostsuccessful film ever made, won eleven Oscars and is considered a classic. Yetthe film had almost looked very different.
James Cameron wist één ding zeker: hij zou nog eens een film maken overscheepswrakken. De regisseur heeft zijn leven lang al een fascinatie voorschepen die hun einde vinden op de bodem van de zee of oceaan. Daarom brachthij zijn tijd vaak onder water door.
Een liefdestragedie bleek de perfecte manier om het verhaal van de Titanic tevertellen. Het schip zonk op 14 april 1912 naar de bodem van de AtlantischeOceaan met aan boord nog zo’n vijftienhonderd mensen.
Cameron was niet de eerste die een film over de RMS Titanic maakte, en ookniet de laatste. Maar hij is zeker de succesvolste. Dat kwam mede door hetacteerwerk van Kate Winslet en Leonardo DiCaprio, die Rose en Jack speelden.Het tragische einde is tot op de dag van vandaag onderwerp van discussie:hadden Jack en Rose écht niet met z’n tweeën op dat stukje hout kunnen liggen?
25 jaar na het uitkomen van de film zijn Winslet en DiCaprio nog altijd metelkaar verbonden door de personages die ze speelden. Maar als het aan Cameronhad gelegen, was het heel anders gegaan. Hij had al een acteur in zijn hoofddie Jack moest spelen: River Phoenix. Maar voordat de opnames ook maar inzicht kwamen, overleed de jonge acteur.
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Too old, too expensive and don’t feel like auditioning
Then came Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Tom Cruise as potential Jacks.But McConaughey (then in her mid-twenties) was too old, Leto refused toaudition, and Cruise was asking too much money. DiCaprio also did not reallywant the part and took the audition anything but seriously, but Cameron sawsomething that convinced him.
Winslet had to call the director several times and send him daily lettersbefore she could even audition. Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder and ReeseWitherspoon had already turned down the role. Winslet persevered and sentCameron a rose after her audition. Her perseverance and her talent eventuallyconvinced the director. Thus, she became the Rose for DiCaprio’s Jack.
Jack’s death was never discussed. But during the shooting of the film, thereal ending was very different. The film follows an investigative teamsearching for a precious piece of jewelry. The team hopes to find out wherethe necklace has gone by talking to a Titanic survivor.
Rose tells the team how she fell in love with Jack, how the two had adventureson the huge ship and finally how she survives the disaster, but he doesn’t.After Rose’s story, the team abandons the search for the precious piece ofjewelry. She appears to have carried the jewel with her all along and throwsit into the water.
Kate Winslet in Titanic, wearing the “Heart of the Ocean” jewel around herneck.
Photo: Getty Images
Totally different ending of the movie
Bill Paxton, who played one of the researchers, told Yahoo just before hisdeath in 2017 how the film should have ended. “Rose stands on the edge of theship and we run to her: ‘Don’t jump!’ Then it turns out that she had the jewelall along. “You don’t know what really matters in life,” Rose says to mycharacter, and throws that jewel into the water. For my character, that had tobe some kind of revelation and that’s why I’m starting to laugh out loud.”
It didn’t make the ending any stronger, Paxton thought. “You didn’t need thoseresearchers at all to round off the story nicely. That became very clearduring the editing.”
After all these years, Winslet is still glad she got the chance to play Rose,she said Good Morning America. “It’s fantastic to have been part ofsomething that evokes a sense of nostalgia for so many people. People canstill identify with the story. It’s a huge honor that people still enjoy it somuch after all these years.”