On the eve of the return to the cinema of this super production, now in an anniversary edition, the Canadian filmmaker confessed that he would have conceived the plot differently if he could have predicted the indignation of fans, distressed by the tragic death of the hero, Jack, at the end of the film.
ADVERTISING
“With what I know now, I would have made the ferry smaller, so there would be no doubt!”, he declared with laughter at a press conference marking the anniversary of the project.
Such is the popularity of the film, there are still debates about the fate of the main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Fans insist that Jack could have survived the icy waters of the North Atlantic after the liner sank. He just had to climb onto the makeshift raft to save his beloved Rose, Kate Winslet.
ADVERTISING
Instead, however, he decides that the wooden door on which she floats in the sea is not big enough for two, and sacrifices himself to ensure her survival.
The controversy surrounding Jack's death is just one example of how the story of Titanic “there seems to be no end to the public,” he said Cameron.
“There have been far greater tragedies since the Titanic”, a ship that sank in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, he added, citing the two world wars that marked the XNUMXth century. "But the Titanic It has this lasting, almost mythical, novelistic quality.”
ADVERTISING
“I think it has to do with love, sacrifice and mortality”, added the director, and pointed out “men who got out of lifeboats to save women and children”.
Final verdict
Cameron put Jack's individual sacrifice to the test in a new National Geographic documentary, with experiments in a tank of ice water with two stunt doubles and an exact replica of the door used in the filming.
In "Titanic: 25 years later”, the two stuntmen who took on the roles of Jack and Rose were equipped with several thermometers to measure the speed at which victims of hypothermia would succumb.
ADVERTISING
The experiment revealed that Jack's tragic fate was not inevitable. 😒
A first test where he clings to the door without climbing on it, as in the film, confirms that the character would have died of hypothermia. A second test, however, in which both manage to maintain balance on the door to keep their torsos, that is, their vital organs, out of the water, suggests that Jack could have saved himself.
In this scenario, he “could have held out until the lifeboat arrived,” he acknowledged. Cameron. “The final verdict? Jack possibly could have survived. But there are many variables,” he added.
ADVERTISING
Epic love story
"Titanic” premiered in December 1997 and held the number one spot at the box office for 15 consecutive weekends.
While nowadays most feature films earn their biggest grosses on their opening weekend, “Titanic” reached its peak in the eighth, which coincided with Valentine’s Day, celebrated on February 14th in the United States.
The epic love story is re-released just before this year's Valentine's Day weekend, hoping to increase its worldwide gross to $2,2 billion.
“I estimate that 100 million of our box office is due to the appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio for 14-year-old teenagers,” he joked Cameron.
"Titanic” currently has the third highest grossing in cinema history, behind “Avengers: Endgame”, a Marvel superhero blockbuster, and “Avatar”, another Marvel superhero film. Cameron.
But it is expected to soon be surpassed by “Avatar: The Way of Water”, the filmmaker's new success, which has already made 2,18 billion dollars (11,4 billion reais) and continues to attract crowds to movie theaters.
Together, these three box office giants Cameron They have already raised 7,25 billion dollars (38 billion reais), approximately the GDP of Bermuda.
In addition to enriching its director extraordinarily, “Titanic”, lasting three hours, left another important, although controversial, legacy.
"Before 'Titanic', it was believed that a long film could not make money,” said Cameron. But “Avatar” lasts 162 minutes and its sequel is 192 minutes. “And it’s going very well.”
(To AFP)
Read also
