Tagged: Titanic (1997)
Bill Paxton’s Sea Exploration Style in Titanic
Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett in Titanic (1997)
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Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett, deep-sea treasure hunter
North Atlantic Ocean, Spring 1996
Film: Titanic
Release Date: December 19, 1997
Director: James Cameron
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This week marks the 113th anniversary of the RMS Titanic sinking in April 1912, a tragedy that has captivated generations—and resurfaced in the public consciousness with every new discovery or disaster, including the OceanGate submersible incident that dominated headlines (and memes) in June 2023.
Forty years ago in the summer of 1985, the wreck of Titanic was discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard, reigniting global fascination and eventually inspiring James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster. For Cameron, the shipwreck was more than a cinematic setting; it was, as he described, “the Mount Everest of shipwrecks.” Despite being “almost past the point” of considering a real undersea expedition, Cameron sought Hollywood funding for what was, at its heart, a chance to dive to the wreck. “Secretly, what I wanted to do was I wanted to dive to the real wreck of Titanic. And that’s why I made the movie,” he admitted to laughter and applause during a 2010 TED Talk, earning laughter and applause. Across 12 dives, Cameron spent more time with Titanic than most of her actual passengers.
Cameron’s longtime friend and collaborator Bill Paxton embodied this pursuit of the ship in his role as Brock Lovett, the modern-day treasure hunter leading the expedition to find a priceless necklace rumored to be buried aboard the ship. Charismatic yet opportunistic, Brock could be a stand-in for Cameron himself, driven by both adventure and the promise of a big payday—be that a sunken treasure or a billion-dollar box office. Paxton’s character even mirrors history; his reaction upon discovering Jack’s drawing of Rose (“I’ll be goddamned”) echoes Dr. Ballard’s exact words upon locating the wreck in 1985. Continue reading
Titanic: David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy
David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy in Titanic (1997)
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David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy, sinister bodyguard and ex-policeman
North Atlantic Ocean, April 1912
Film: Titanic
Release Date: December 19, 1997
Director: James Cameron
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
Tailor: Dominic Gherardi
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
112 years ago tonight on the night of Sunday, April 14, 1912, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic Ocean. The grand ship making its maiden voyage was under the waves less than three hours later, en route the ocean floor as the disaster claimed the lives of more than 1,500 passengers and crew, leaving around 700 survivors scattered in small open boats awaiting rescue.
From the moment headlines broke across the world the following morning through more than a century later, the Titanic disaster has all from historians and experts to the public at large, its legacy kept alive by scores of books and film productions, including a silent film starring real-life survivor Dorothy Gibson filmed just weeks after the sinking, a handful of Hollywood melodramas, a Nazi propaganda film, and the 1958 drama A Night to Remember, still considered by many the definitive fact-based retelling of the disaster.
The first major color production depicting the Titanic sinking aired on ABC in 1979. Through the Queen Mary standing in for the Titanic bore little resemblance to the actual ship, S.O.S. Titanic is remarkable for almost exclusively featuring dramatis personae representing actual passengers and crew, rather than fictionalized characters or composites. One of these was the sharply observant English schoolteacher Lawrence Beesley, who traveled in second class and survived the sinking to pen one of the first written accounts of the disaster which remains a valuable resource among historians and enthusiasts today. Beesley was portrayed in S.O.S. Titanic by David Warner, a talented and prolific stage and screen actor who died in July 2022 at the age of 80—you can read more in my 2023 post about Warner’s tweed Norfolk suit as Mr. Beesley.
The late, great Mr. Warner didn’t restrict his Titanic screen credits to the late ’70s, as he was cast nearly 20 years later in James Cameron’s epic 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
David Warner starred as the real-life passenger Lawrence Beesley in S.O.S. Titanic (1979) and the fictional Spicer Lovejoy in Titanic (1997).
Titanic – Jack Dawson’s Steerage Style
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic (1997)
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Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, charismatic American artist
North Atlantic Ocean, April 1912
Film: Titanic
Release Date: December 19, 1997
Director: James Cameron
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
Tailor: Dominic Gherardi
Background
110 years ago today, the sinking of the RMS Titanic resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 passengers and crew. The global mourning and focus on transportation safety in the tragedy’s aftermath was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, so to speak, as the disaster and those involved have continued to be mythologized in countless books, movies, plays, songs, and more.
Titanic – Billy Zane’s White Tie
Billy Zane as Cal Hockley in Titanic (1997).
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Billy Zane as Caledon “Cal” Hockley, pompous heir to a Pittsburgh steel fortune
North Atlantic Ocean, April 1912
Film: Titanic
Release Date: December 19, 1997
Director: James Cameron
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
Background
Exactly 102 years today, the RMS Titanic saw land for the last time when it departed Queenstown, Ireland (now Cobh) at 1:30 PM (GMT) on April 11, 1912. The destination was New York City, but the ship foundered in the North Atlantic Ocean, taking with it more than 1,500 passengers and crew and leaving only a scattered 700 in the ship’s relatively few lifeboats.
Oh, you’ve heard of Titanic before? Okay, then, I doubt I need to say much more. Continue reading