This is a sentence from the novel "Inverted Earth" by the American writer Clive Casler, which is the biggest shipwreck in history. The protagonist-the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff. This sentence also applies to the famous Titanic.
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic, known as the "miracle in the history of the world's industry," made its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York, USA. The longing passengers on the ship and the cheering crowd on the dock would not have thought that this would It was a short journey of death. At around 11:40 on the evening of April 14, the Titanic hit an iceberg; two and a half hours later, the huge ship, known as the "unsinkable ship," slowly sank into the dark and cold depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Because of its legend and tragedy, this theme has been favored by many directors for 100 years. From the silent film shot in Italy in 1915 to the mini-series produced by iTV in the UK in 2012, it has appeared several times in film and television dramas. The most well-known and most successful of these, undoubtedly belonged to the American director James Cameron’s "Titanic". When it was released in China in 1998, it caused a sensation like 10,000 people-"Death of the Dead" opened the Chinese market. In the era of blockbuster films, "Titanic" allowed Chinese audiences to truly appreciate the charm of blockbusters.
"In life, sometimes you need to do something extraordinary."
In 1992, the 38-year-old young director James Cameron had been idle for a while after filming "Terminator 2". One day, he aimlessly took out "The Shipwreck in the Ice Sea" and watched the movie again. After the film ended, he had the idea of retelling the film: based on historical facts, he made up a fictional love story, and then used the latest underwater photography technology to tell a modern story about the truth about the shipwreck.
This is not the first time Cameron has become interested in the Titanic. As early as his boyhood, he had read Walter Royd's documentary literature "Ice Sea Sunken", and Roy Ward Baker's adaptation of the film of the same name based on this book. For the Titanic carrying 2223 passengers, the accident can be called the end of the world-and this is the theme Cameron has always been obsessed with.
As if fate had arranged, he flipped through the letter after watching the video, and unexpectedly received an invitation letter asking him to watch the documentary "Titanic: Treasure in the Deep". This documentary aroused his interest even more. He told the director: "I want to turn this story into my next movie. Take me to Russia."
There are two ships on the Russian Keldish scientific research ship. The Mir submarine was one of the few submarines in the world that could dive to a depth of about four kilometers in the ruins of the Titanic. The captain, who was distressed by the lack of funding for scientific research, hit it off with Cameron. The two drank vodka, but no one thought that in the next eleven years, they would spend ten months on the ship together. , Took the Mir to dive more than fifty times, and the deepest time was nearly five kilometers.
Cameron is already a hot figure in Hollywood for filming "Alien 2", "Terminator" series and "The Abyss". Before conceiving the Titanic, he finished filming "True Lies" and once again hit the box office. . Looking back at "Titanic" at this time, he hesitated instead: Can the idea be realized? Will deep-water photography succeed? Does anyone want to watch this movie? When he was indecisive, the captain of the Keldish sent a fax with only one sentence: "In life, sometimes something extraordinary needs to be done." Cameron was moved. This sentence was in his mind. With golden light in his eyes, he immediately called the film company: I want to make "Titanic"!
"Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic"
In March 1995, Cameron went to Twentieth Century Fox to find Chairman Peter Chernin. He did not prepare any written materials and only brought a picture book about the history of the Titanic. In the reading, the concept he put forward was: "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic." A single sentence touched Chernin, and in the following years he experienced the world from inferior to death to ecstasy. Baiwei. Fourteen years later, Chernin recalled: "The filming of "Titanic" was a disaster. It was the most difficult production in Hollywood's history. Every day I thought I was going to be fired."
Cameron persuaded Chernin to enhance the historical authenticity of the film through physical photography of the Titanic wreck, and won four million US dollars in diving costs. He gathered scientists, photographers, sailors and historians from Russia, the United States and Canada, and organized 12 dives in 1995. The submarine’s cab is only two meters wide and squeezed by three big men. Each round trip takes ten hours, which is equivalent to flying from New York to Tokyo, and the bathroom is just a cup.
Compared with the dangers faced, these difficulties are nothing at all. The seabed is full of twisted steel plates and hanging steel cables, and Russian pilots are extremely unfamiliar with the new sonar, and the small Mir submarine is facing extinction at any time. In fact, Cameron’s submarine almost hit the sideboard of the Titanic during the first dive; during the third dive, he encountered the double danger of insufficient power and strong ocean currents. It costs 40,000 US dollars and can only shoot for 12 minutes, so Cameron is unwilling to cancel the mission and almost buried himself on the bottom of the sea. After three ascents, the power is almost completely exhausted before he emerges by chance. The term "nine deaths" is used to describe it. pass.
Jack and Rose
James Cameron’s vision of selecting actors has always been unreliable: When filming "Terminator", the company recommended Schwarzenegger as the starring player. He disagreed, and wanted to invite Schwarzenegger to dinner and find something. Arguing with him a few words, then turned back and told the boss that Schwarzenegger was a bastard. As a result, when he paid the bill, he found that he didn't bring a penny, but Schwarzenegger paid the bill, and he was still speculative when he was talking during the meal. Ex-wife Catherine Bigelow chose a male number one when filming "Breaking Point", Cameron strongly opposed, saying that this guy was stupid and definitely not good. It turned out that the movie was a big success, and the guy who was looked down upon by Cameron was Keanu Reeves, who later became red.
The same is true for the casting of "Titanic". For the male protagonist Jack Dawson, he originally meant Matthew McConaughey or Chris O'Donnell. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron’s view is: "He looks long He was too thin, not like a male protagonist, and not beautiful enough.” However, out of courtesy, he invited Leo to come to the company for a talk. It turned out that all the female employees in the office came to attend the meeting, even accounting and Secretary. Only then did he realize the lethal power of Leo for female audiences.
Cameron once asked Claire Dennis if he intended to play the role of the heroine Rose, but Dennis just finished "Romeo and Juliet" and rejected it because he felt that the two films were too similar. Although Cameron had contacted Gwyneth Paltrow afterwards, when he saw Kate Winslet, he was immediately fascinated by her elegant temperament. He told her: "This role must be yours. ." In order to express his gratitude, Winslet sent Cameron a rose from the UK under the signature "Your Rose".
Leo's pay was only 2.5 million US dollars at the time, and Winslet was even less, less than one million. The biggest actor in the film is Kathy Bates, and in just a few scenes, she asked for a salary of six hundred thousand dollars. In the twentieth century, Fox felt that the price was too high. Cameron mentioned the price to half a million dollars and paid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for himself. This is why Bates was hired.
The veteran star Gloria Stuart, who was 86 years old at the time, played the role of Old Rose. The old lady was very good. One day at three o'clock in the morning, workaholic Cameron knocked on her door and asked her to take a film. Anger: "You are so courageous!" When Cameron scolded, he had to obediently let her continue to sleep beauty.
The impossible task
In order to film "Titanic", Fox bought a 16 square kilometers of land on the coast of Mexico in the twentieth century. The workers miraculously built a huge movie city in 100 days; even more miraculous Yes, they built a replica of the Titanic in roughly the same timeframe as the original ship. You know, the Titanic used 14,000 workers and it took more than three years to complete!
In the pursuit of perfection, Cameron has carried out accurate research on the props on the ship, from wall lamps, carpets, porcelain, furniture to a small ashtray, he did not miss any tiny details. The author of the picture book Cameron used to persuade Chernin was invited to visit the Titanic after it was built. When he saw that the scene he had studied and painted carefully was reproduced so realistically, He almost shed tears.
The demand for quality must mean an increase in investment. Cameron initially estimated that he needed a budget of 80 million U.S. dollars, and Fox gave 110 million. In the end, including publicity expenses, he spent an unprecedented amount of 200 million U.S. dollars. For the time, it was It is the most expensive movie in movie history. Cameron voluntarily asked to give up the 8 million US dollars of compensation, only to take the later dividends. The huge Titanic was also dismantled and sold as scrap after the shooting, to supplement the shooting expenses.
"I am the king of the world!" The
excessively long shooting cycle, the high investment beyond the budget, the repeatedly delayed release date, the large investment film "Future Water World" released at the same time, the box office fiasco... "Titanic" "Before it came out, the future was marked with a series of question marks.
In the first trial screening, even though Cameron made a confident look, he was actually nervous to death: his reputation, the money of the film company, and the jobs of others are all counting on this movie. Fortunately, this three-hour and 15-minute movie quickly conquered the audience, and the box office trend soared, even to an unthinkable point: it topped the U.S. box office charts for 16 consecutive weeks, breaking the historical record; the total global box office revenue was as high as 1.8 billion US dollars, also the highest in history-this record was maintained for 13 years, until 2010 was replaced by Cameron's own "Avatar."
In the 70th Oscar Awards, "Titanic" received a total of 14 nominations, tying the highest record of "Comet Beauty"; winning eleven awards, tying the highest record of "Benxu". When he went on stage to receive the Best Director Award, Cameron could not restrain the excitement in his heart, holding the trophy and shouting: "I am the king of the world!" Just like Leo shouted on the bow of the Titanic .
Interestingly, it was only then that James Cameron’s father reluctantly admitted that the profession of director was fairly reliable. Before that, the father had always hoped that his son could be an engineer just like him.
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