25 years ago, the best-known ship of all time ended up at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg, and a very young Jack Dawson did not get on the board that could have saved him from dying in icy waters.
Or, at least, that happened on the big screen.
The reality is that the highest-grossing film in history until 2009 was based on what happened to the
RMS Titanic
, a British liner that sank on the night of April 14, 1912 while on the Southampton-New York route with 2,787 passengers. on board, of whom 1,518 died from drowning or hypothermia.
A tragedy that inspired James Cameron to tell the love story between two young people from very different social classes: the humble Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), who managed to get on the
Titanic
after winning a game of cards, and the young socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by Kate Winslet), who was traveling with her fiancé Cal and his mother.
Once they met, a few days were enough to forge a love story that the viewer could live intensely.
The end of this love, like its soundtrack to the film performed by Céline Dion, is already part of cinema history.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, a friendship that lasts 22 years
When Leonardo DiCaprio (Los Angeles, 48 years old) starred in
Titanic
(1997) he was not a stranger to Hollywood.
His debut as his protagonist was in
Vida de este chico
(1993), at the age of 19.
A year later, he earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor with
Who Does Gilbert Grape Love?
(1994).
DiCaprio became one of the most recognized actors in the American film industry in just five years.
Success that he would reconfirm in
Titanic
.
But he was about to not be part of the film because of his bad attitude: “You will be doing five other things while I am doing the editing.
So I'm not going to screw it up by making the wrong
casting decision.
.
If you don't read, I don't give you the role," director James Cameron recounted 25 years later about what it was like working with DiCaprio.
Little more can be said about this actor who chains dozens of successful films.
In 2005, he was again nominated for an Oscar for best actor for
The Aviator
(2004), although he failed to win the statuette.
The same thing that happened to him in 2007 with
Blood Diamond
(2006).
Other nominations would come later, such as for his work in
The Wolf of Wall Street
(2013).
Recognition was slow to come.
After five lost awards, he received the statuette in 2016 with
The Revenant
.
His latest success came from Netflix at the end of 2021,
Don't look up,
which in a few hours became one of the most watched movies on the platform in its history.
As regards his personal life, he has recently starred in thousands of comments in the media and on social networks due to the age of all his partners: none is over 25, despite the fact that he is practically twice their age.
On the left, Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Titanic' (1997);
on the right, at the premiere of his film 'Don't look up' (2021).
Getty Agency
Kate Winslet (Reading, United Kingdom, 47 years old) played Rose DeWitt – who also gave life in the film, in her elderly version, to the late Gloria Stuart.
The actress became known thanks to her role in
Heavenly Creatures
(1994), although it was not her first film.
Her career in the United States began two years later, when she starred in
Jude
(1996) and
Hamlet
(1996) and she was nominated for her first Oscar thanks to
Sense and Sensibility
(1995).
But international recognition was not long in coming.
Her interpretation in
Titanic
It earned him a second Oscar nomination, though he didn't take it.
On the day of the film's premiere, she did not come, she was going through one of the most complicated moments of her life: the death of her first love from bone cancer.
Although she was no longer with him, the relationship was still good.
From that moment, his popularity grew with each production in which he participated.
Four years after her last nomination for the statuette, Winslet was again among the candidates for
Iris
(2001).
It would not be until 2008, with
The Reader
, in which she gives life to a woman accused of Nazi crimes, when
he would receive his first and only Oscar.
Just a few days ago,
Avatar: El camino del agua
(2022) was released, in which the actress and the director work together again after 25 years.
And that James Cameron has acknowledged that the actress left
Titanic
"A little traumatized by the scale of production" and that she said that she was not going to work unless they paid her a lot of money.
On the left, Kate Winslet on the set of 'Titanic';
on the right, at the premiere of 'Avatar: The Sense of Water', this December.
Agencies.
The fate of Billy Zane (Chicago, USA, 56 years old), an actor who played Rose's fiancé, Cal, has been very different from that of the two protagonists.
Although he has not been away from the cameras, in these 25 years he has not achieved the same success as his co-stars.
His first role was in
Back to the Future
(1985) and four years later in the second installment.
He did not stop working until 1997 when he got the opportunity to appear in
Titanic,
where he plays a lover who tries everything to separate his fiancée from the humble young man he has met on the ship.
Later, he appeared in movies like
The Believer
(2001) and even on the small screen with
The Boys.
(2019).
Zane, who played the bad guy in the movie, lived how everyone later categorized him as such.
“I was synonymous with a bad character among
casting
directors .
That forces you to become a little more creative,” he explained in an interview in 2021.
On the left, Billy Zane in 'Titanic' (1997);
on the right, at the premiere of the 3D version of 'Titanic' in 2012. Agencies.
Another of the great protagonists of the film is Ruth DeWitt, Rose's mother, played by Frances Fisher (Milford on Sea, United Kingdom, 70 years old).
The character became one of the most hated in the film because of her interest in her daughter marrying Cal. Without a doubt,
Titanic
was the production that made her best known, despite having previously worked on other films such as
Unforgiven
( 1992).
Since then, Fisher has been in more than 22 films, including
House of Sand and Fog
(2003) and
The Laws of Attraction
(2004).
In addition, she has also had roles in numerous series, such as
Grey's Anatomy
(2005) and
CSI: Las Vegas
(2011).
On the left, Frances Fisher in 'Titanic';
right, at the premiere of 'On Sacred Ground,' on Nov. 12, 2022, in Los Angeles.
AGENCIES
Kathy Bates (Memphis, USA, 74 years old) played one of the few roles in the film based on a real
Titanic
character : Molly Brown, known as the unsinkable, since she was one of the survivors of the sinking.
Bates has been in the film industry for more than 40 years, in which she has not stopped working in films, series and theater.
Her performance in
Misery
(1990) is recognized as one of the best female performances in film history.
So much so that she earned her her first and only Oscar, despite having been nominated four times for the statuette.
Thanks to
Fried Green Tomatoes
(1991),
Titanic
and the political satire
Primary Colors
(1998) —with which she was about to win her second statuette—, the actress once again lived one of the best decades of her artistic career.
Later, she would be nominated for her performance in films like
About Schmidt
(2002) and
Richard Jewell
(2019).
On the left, Kathy Bates in 'Titanic';
right, on the red carpet at the 92nd Academy Awards, held in 2020 in Hollywood.
Agencies.
Victor Garber (London, Canada, 73 years old) played the engineer in charge of building the
Titanic
, whom everyone blamed for the sinking.
One of the most remembered scenes of the film is played by him along with Jack and Rose: the couple tries to save his life, while the engineer sits waiting for the time of his death.
Garber has been in the world of acting for 43 years, with more than 30 films and 35 series, including her role in
Something to Remember
(1993),
Annie
(1999),
My Name is Harvey Milk
(2008) and
Argo
(2012 ).
).
On the left, Victor Garber in 'Titanic;
on the right, at the premiere of 'Take Me Out', in 2022. AGENCIES
Another of the characters who were blamed for the sinking of the ship was the ship's captain, Edward John Smith, played by Bernard Hill (Manchester, United Kingdom, 78 years old).
His last scene, in which he appears clinging to the control deck when the water breaks the glass, is one of the most remembered of the tragic ending experienced by almost all the characters in the film.
His first film appearance was in
Gandhi
(1982);
then roles would follow in
Los demonios de la noche
(1996).
Years later, he would appear in the second and third installments of
The Lord of the Rings
(2002-2003) playing King Théoden of Rohan.
His last film was 2012
's The Amazing World of Norman,
and he hasn't worked since 2017.
On the left, Bernard Hill in 'Titanic';
on the right, in 2012. AGENCIES
25 years of one of the most remembered films in history and also one of the most awarded, since it has not lost its position as one of the films with the most Oscars in history.
He took a total of 11 statuettes, which places him at the top of the podium with
Ben-Hur
(1959) and
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(2003), the third part of the saga in which Bernard appears Hill.
Although it has been broadcast on television ad nauseam, the tragic end of the two lovers continues to hook all viewers.
All this knowing what happened on the fateful night of April 14, 1912.