Launched in 1997, “Titanic” it was an immediate success. At the time, it became the highest-grossing film in history. Even today, the film perpetuates in the minds of viewers and is on the list of the highest grossing films.
This year, the feature completes 25 years and returns to the big screen this Thursday (9).
In a press conference, which the CNN participated, director James Cameron spoke about the return of the film to theaters – and the experience that the place provides-, the influence of the production in the film industry and why the title continues to be a success.
He also revealed how he came up with the idea for the story and what his latest hit, “Avatar: The Way of Water” has in common with “Titanic” .
Read highlights from the press conference below.
The idea
Cameron watched the movie “God Only as Witness” (1958), which tells the story of the shipwreck, and thought how that setting would be the perfect setting for a love story.
In parallel, he has always been passionate about the ocean. Before becoming a director, he was a scuba diver – which he continues to do to this day, taking advantage of the money he made from the production.
The filmmaker worked at the Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole – the site made famous by the discovery and initial exploration of the Titanic. There, he witnessed the technological discoveries being made to penetrate the ocean.
With these artifacts, he was able to explore the interior of the Titanic ship.
“I put my love of history together with this technology, and that was the beginning of Titanic. I came to this with two passions. One was history and storytelling, and the other was my love of technology and deep ocean exploration. And they really built on this amazing creative feedback loop,” she said.
Cameron also stressed that his love for the ocean is what unites “Titanic” It is “Avatar: The Way of Water” and revealed that the story of their successful franchise will continue at the bottom of the sea.
What it would be like to make Titanic in 2023
The director said that if the production was made currently, it would still tell a love story. What would be different would be the technical issue.
“We would shoot the same script, we would have the same values, the cinematography would be the same. But we wouldn’t be building a set 800 feet long and stringing every light and every piece of cable in all of Hollywood,” she said.
Producer Jon Landau, who also attended the press conference, said he was grateful they created the setting: “There was something great about going to that set.”
Why Titanic Remains on People’s Minds
The filmmaker recalled the themes addressed in the film, arguing that they are still current, which is why the story continues to perpetuate in the viewer’s mind.
The rich and the poor. Those who have and those who don’t. The people who survive and the people who die.
The disparity between social classes is present in the tragedy: “In the third class, almost all the men and about half of the women and children died. In the first class about half the men and nearly all the women and children survived with only one or two exceptions.”
“It was the rich people on the Titanic, their impatience to get to New York and the captain responding to the rich customer base that caused the sinking in the first place. And it was the poor who suffered, numerically,” said Cameron.
The filmmaker still attributes to human arrogance the fact that the ship was considered unsinkable: “They operated it badly and it sank”.
Cameron pointed out that the world now faces another crisis, climate change, and drew a parallel with the film.
“We’ve been warned about this for years, we see this coming straight for us, we can’t turn the ship around. It’s just like the damn iceberg. Let’s go head-to-head and guess who’s going to suffer the most? The poor,” she commented.
Producer Jon added, “That’s why the film continues to resonate with audiences around the world. This is not just something that plays in one country, but in all these countries that we talk to today everywhere.”
Leaving the intellectual part aside, following the emotion of the story alone can be an option.
Unlike other tragedies, Titanic has a “kind of enduring, almost mythical, novelistic quality,” points out the director.
The broken heart. The sadness. The beauty. Love. The tragedy. The beauty of the love story that ends tragically. You can have a romantic comedy and they can kiss at the end and go off into the sunset, but there’s something so much more powerful about a love story that contains loss.
James Cameron
In addition, the director points to the high standard of the film for the time as a reason for remembrance in the collective.
Impact on the film industry
According to Cameron, the main legacy of “Titanic” it’s long term.
“Historically before the Titanic, the wisdom, which proves to be untrue, was that a long movie doesn’t make money.”
The argument was that people didn’t watch a film longer than three hours and, in addition, the studio misses an exhibition a day.
The production proved the opposite, staying for 15 weeks in first place at the box office in 1997 and entering the Top 5 of the greatest rentals in the history of cinema.
Why go to the movies to watch Titanic
Cameron argues that most people remember the first time they saw “Titanic” : where were, at what stage of life, relationships.
“Titanic ties us to moments in time because it has a kind of timelessness about it,” he said.
Despite the ease of finding the film on TV and watching it on the couch at home, the director defends the cinema experience.
On the big screen, you can’t pause the movie, watch it two or three nights in a row because it’s more convenient for scheduling, multitasking, ordering a pizza, grabbing a beer from the fridge or whatever.
It’s a ride and the excitement starts to build in you. You feel a greater sense of presence, and 3D even helps with that because we updated the film. You get to the end of that experience, that three hour session, it’s devastating in a way that won’t happen at home, and people know that.
James Cameron
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
