WRITER: James Cameron.
PRODUCERS: James Cameron and Jon Landau.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Pamela Easley.
CO-PRODUCERS: Al Giddings, Grant Hill and Sharon Mann.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Rae Sanchini.
ORIGINAL MUSIC: James Horner.
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures/ 20th Century Fox.
BOX OFFICE OPENING: $28.6 million (USA)
BOX OFFICE RESULT: $600.7 million (USA)
NON-USA BOX OFFICE RESULT: $1.214 billion
BUDGET: $200 million (USA)
SHOOTING DATES: July 1996 -- March 1997
- As in the case with many 20th Century Fox films, the film cans for the advance screening prints and show prints had a code name. Titanic was Baby's Day Out 2.
- When Jack is telling Rose about the lady he drew that sat at the bar wearing every piece of jewelry she owned, Jack said that they nicknamed her Madame Bijoux. Bijoux is French for jewels.
- Before announcing development for this film, director Cameron shot footage of icebergs off Nova Scotia under the pretense of making a film called Planet Ice.
- The name of the character Caledon Hockley derives from two small towns (Caledon and Hockley) near Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, where Cameron's aunt and uncle live.
- When Cameron decided to include real footage of the Titanic's remains on the seabed, he did not want to simply shoot from inside a submersible, as done for the IMAX documentary Titanica. To allow filming from outside the sub, Cameron's brother Mike and Panavision developed a deep-sea camera system capable of withstanding the 400 atmospheres of pressure at that depth.
- The studios wanted Matthew McConaughey, but Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio.
- On the set, DiCaprio's pet lizard was run over by a truck, but with some TLC, Leo nursed him to health.
- Cameron forfeited his $8 million director's salary and his percentage of the gross when the studio became concerned at how much over budget the movie was running.
- A 90% scale model of one half of the Titanic was constructed on a beach in Mexico. In the scenes portraying the ship at the Southampton dock, all shots were reversed to give the appearance of the port side of the ship, as it was actually docked in 1912. This required the painstaking construction of reversed costumes and signage to complete the illusion, which was achieved by reversing the image in post-production.
- Academy Award winner for Best Art-Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Filming Editing, Best Original Score, Best Song, Best Picture and Best Sound, and nominated for three more Oscars for Best Actress, Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actress.
Rose: The difference between Cal's taste in art and mine is that I have some. They're fascinating. Like being in a dream or something. There's truth but no logic.
Cal: My fian...my fiancee! My wife in practice if not yet by law and you will honor me. You will honor me the way a wife is required to honor a husband. Am I in any way unclear?
Rose: No.
Cal: It is unsinkable. God himself couldn't sink this ship.
Jack: And chew tobacco like a man.
Rose: And spit like a man!
Jack: What, they didn't teach you that in finishing school?
Rose: I'd rather be his whore than you're wife.