“Titanic was about ‘f—k you’ money”: James Cameron Shamelessly Admitted His Cult Classic Film With Kate Winslet Was Simply a Means To an End
The love story of Titanic has amazed and shocked people around the globe for years, but the reason behind the making of this film was far more shocking. James Cameron the creator behind the biggest hits in Hollywood like Avatar and Terminator revealed his motivation behind making the iconic film Titanic. While many believed that it was the creativity of Cameron that produced this masterpiece, as per the director it was nothing but money.
James Cameron did Titanic only for Money
Talking about his motivation behind Titanic, James Cameron shamelessly accepted that it was all for money. In an interview with Play Boy Magazine, Cameron opened up about why he made Titanic stating money and his own need to do an expedition was enough for him to take on this project.
James Cameron, talking about his inspiration, said that he only made the movie because of money and because he wanted to dive into the shipwreck and not because he wanted to make the movie. It was the Titanic’s wreckage, which was commonly known as the “Mount Everest of Shipwrecks” which had made Cameron interested as he was a diver himself.
Also, Cameron had come across some guy who had dived down in the ocean to the Titanic to make an IMAX movie and he said to himself “I’ll make a Hollywood movie to pay for an expedition and do the same thing.”
Further talking about the financial aspects of his decision Cameron elaborated, explaining that Titanic was about “fu*k you” money. At that time Cameron just wanted to make the film so that he could get a good amount of money. He also recalled that it was at that time in his life when he taught “I can make movies until I’m 80, but I can’t do expedition stuff when I’m 80.”
Even though the inspiration of James Cameron to make Titanic was not his creative instinct. The movie in itself made history for both the creator as well as the then-young actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
James Cameron’s Titanic and its success at the box office
After 25 years of its release, Titanic still stands to be one of the most loved love stories by fans. Even back in 1997, when the movie was released, it was declared one of the biggest hits at the box office. Although its making was also a struggle in itself.
The movie was originally decided to be made under a budget of $110 million, although with the cost of creating a new sound stage complete with horizon tanks to emulate the look of the ocean pushed the budget to $200 million and later to $295 million.
Just like the budget, even the shooting period of the movie was extended from 138 to 160 days which delayed the release of the movie from July 1997 to that December 1997. All of this trouble and tension among the producers and director paid off when the movie made its way to the box office. As per the reports the movie opened by earning $28,638,131 during its very first weekend. In total, the movie made a box office collection of $2,2 billion worldwide.
Even though nothing in this movie was planned or done with the aim to develop an iconic movie, it did come out as a masterpiece that shook the entire industry to its core.
Source: AS
