“Titanic” James Cameron became the “King of the World”: the inevitability and miracle

"Titanic" synopsis

The luxury liner Titanic made its maiden voyage in 1912. Jack, an aspiring painter, and Rose, an upper-class girl, have a fateful encounter on a ship. The two overcome their differences in love and form a strong bond. However, the luxury liner, which boasted of being unsinkable, meets an ironic fate...

March 23, 1998, 70th Academy Awards Ceremony. At that time, `` Titanic '', directed and written by James Cameron, had been at the top of the box office on weekends for 14 consecutive weeks (*1) since its release on December 19th of the previous year in North America, and was also a huge hit in countries around the world. (*2). ``Titanic,'' which was a huge favorite with 14 nominations, did not disappoint and won in 11 categories, including Best Picture, making it the most awarded film in history, along with `` Ben-Hur '' (59). In his acceptance speech for Best Director, Cameron expressed his joy by shouting Jack's (Leonardo DiCaprio) line from the movie, ``I'm the king of the world!''

Cameron, who set numerous records with ``Titanic,'' was a huge success worthy of the title ``King of the World,'' but this is no coincidence. Due to the combination of the inevitable circumstances leading up to this point and some miraculous luck, this unprecedented blockbuster was completed and moved the world into a whirlpool of excitement.

"Titanic" trailer

*1…After that, it achieved the top spot for 15 consecutive weeks, which is a new record.

*2...World box office revenue has since surpassed $1.8 billion, making it the No. 1 movie of all time. This record was broken by the director's 2009 film Avatar . Including the 3D version released in 2012, Titanic's global box office total was $2.187 billion.

Index

• Preview letter from the underwater cinematographer of “The Abyss”
• ``Romeo and Juliet'' on the ship
• The sunset that came to shoot the emotional scene
• Theme song that wasn't in Cameron's plan

Preview letter from the underwater cinematographer of “The Abyss”

The sinking of the luxury liner Titanic in 1912, which at the time was called ``the worst maritime disaster in history,'' was not a subject that Cameron came across by chance after becoming a major Hollywood director. As mentioned in the episode about The Abyss , teenage Cameron became obsessed with Jacques-Yves Cousteau's marine documentaries and even started taking scuba diving classes. As a boy, he yearned for the sea, and came across Walter Lord's non-fiction novel ` ` The Titanic's End '' and its film adaptation, ` `SOS Titanic : An Unforgettable Night '' (1958). , he was strongly drawn to stories that involve catastrophic tragedy.

In 1985, marine archaeologist Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic at a depth of 3,650 meters in the North Pacific Ocean, and a diving expedition was conducted the following year. After seeing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for the first time in the documentary, Cameron decided that someday he would like to make a film that captures the world under the sea using cutting-edge science and technology such as deep-sea submersibles and ROVs. `` The Abyss '' (1989) was created by combining these ideas with a short story that he wrote in high school.

On the other hand, in my notes from 1987 when I watched the documentary, I wrote, ``At the beginning and end of the scene, we should include footage of the current sunken ship taken using a submarine to bookend the story. Re-enacting the night of the shipwreck by retracing the memories of those who lost their lives.'' ``Women and children who were rescued according to the customs of the time. Many dramatic moments of farewell that were born from that.'' Courageous heroes and... He was described as a "cowardly timid person" (*quoted from Reference 1). At this point, the rough blueprint for Titanic was ready.

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The next turning point was in 1992. One day, Cameron watched a video of ``Titanic '' and got the idea to mix real characters with a fictional love story. The Day After, as I was sorting through the pile of letters on my desk, something that could be called synchronicity (*3) occurred. One of the letters was a black postcard depicting the hull of the Titanic. It was a preview of ``Titanic: Treasure of the Deep'' (1992), a documentary by Al Giddings, the underwater cinematographer of ``The The Abyss,'' about the exploration of the Titanic's ocean floor.

*3…A concept proposed by Jung that refers to “meaningful coincidences.”

After watching the documentary at the screening venue, Cameron was impressed by the Russian research vessel Keldysh and the deep-sea exploration vessel Mir that were shown there, and was still excited when he insisted on Giddings, ``Let's go to Russia together!'' invite to This was the moment when the ``Titanic'' project began to move forward.

``Romeo and Juliet'' on the ship