Director James Cameron has shared the funny reason why he wanted to have fairly short actors for his film “Titanic.”
If Titanic is a monumental film from more than one point of view – budget, impact, resonance with the public, James Cameron gave instructions to his casting teams well in advance of filming: not to have in the image only actors of a certain size, but why?
With an estimated budget of $200 million (the most expensive in cinema history at the time), Titanic cost more to film than it cost to build the real ship at the turn of the century. This shows that the film needs to succeed at the box office! But even with this considerable budget, Cameron wants to become more grandiose on screen and to do so, will resort to a most inventive trick:
But why were 80 people sick on set?!
We only chose small extras, to make our set appear larger. We rejected everyone who was over 1.70 m. And thanks to this [choix de] casting, we earned almost a million dollars in terms of image rendering.
Paramount Pictures Aboard the Titanic (note the “little” extras in the background)
James Cameron, or how to keep the astute mind of a film student, even at the head of an enormous machine worth hundreds of millions of dollars. With “small” extras in the frame, the sets appear more impressive, with higher ceilings, too. A good idea to give a feeling of majesty.
What about the stars of the film?
Paramount Pictures
Kate Winslet vs. Leonardo DiCaprio
For the record, Kate Winslet fit perfectly within the guidelines with her 1.69 m, but Leonardo DiCaprio less so, since he still reached 1.83 m!
Titanic will celebrate the 27th anniversary of its release next year (in 1997), and for the occasion, the film will be released with a restored 4K edition on January 24. There you will find an entire Blu-ray of bonuses. In total, there will be 15 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, including a never-before-seen documentary with Kate Winslet, Jon Landau and the director himself, James Cameron.