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Titanic (1997 Movie)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 weak $28 million in ticket sales for the weekend. Within a week the gross tripled. By New Year's Day, the film had hit $100 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 $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. Plot Rose, as an old woman sees her portrait on TV and tells the crew (who were exploring the sunken ship for the Heart of the Ocean, an expensive gem. Jack, a poor artist wins a card game and goes onto the Titanic, while Rose, already upper class, goes with her fiance. The Captain and crew ignore many warnings and are told to make the ship go faster by Mr. Ismay and do so. Rose does not want to marry her fiance and wants to kill herself by jumping off the ship, however Jack intervenes and saves her and their relationship grows quickly. The crew however does not see an iceberg in time and the Titanic begins to sink. Jack is captured and sent far below deck by the crew due to Rose's fiances jealousy. Rose decides to run away from her fiance and a lifeboat to find Jack. She goes below decks and finds that the water is low, and saves Jack, however when they go back they realise that the water is rising at an alarming rate. The ship cracks in half and Rose & Jack retreat to the very back as their half rises straight up. The ship goes completely under and most people are thrown into the water. Jack & Rose find a door which only one of them can go on. Jack stays in the water and dies from the cold. Later Rose is found alive and rescued by the lifeboats, where the lifeboats are then found by the Carpathia. Upon arrival to New York, Rose discovers she has her fiance's coat which has the Heart of the Ocean necklace! Back to modern time: Rose goes onto the deck of the exploring ship and throws the necklace into the ocean. Historical inaccuracies 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). Some contend that the film is 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 http://www.titanic-titanic.com/titanic%20memorial%20william%20murdoch.shtml http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00045O. 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, although the sudden apparition of hundreds of them after the last boat had already departed (around 2 a.m.), raises the obvious question of where they were in the previous hours, and why they only got to the boat deck when it was too late. 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. Cline 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, also starred Winslet): - Art direction — Art Direction: Peter Lamont; Set Decoration: Michael Ford
- Cinematography — Russell Carpenter
- Costume Design — Deborah L. Scott
- Direction — James Cameron
- Film Editing — Conrad Buff, James Cameron, Richard A. Harris
- Music (Original Dramatic Score) — James Horner
- Music (Original Song) — "My Heart Will Go On," music by James Horner; lyric by Will Jennings
- Best Picture — James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
- Sound — Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, Mark Ulano
- Sound Effects Editing — Tom Bellfort, Christopher Boyes
- Visual Effects — Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, Michael Kanfer
It also received the following nominations: - Best Actress in a Leading Role — Kate Winslet
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Gloria Stuart
- Best Makeup — Tina Earnshaw, Greg Cannom, Simon Thompson
See also External links
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