You read that correctly, movie fans–James Cameron cast a slew of shorter people for Titanic, but not for speaking roles, only as movie budget discounts and filler spaces.
It sounds like the most anti-woke headline of the year but one of the most revered movies in history has a tiny secret shared in the Los Angeles Times. (Okay, that wasn’t an intentional pun but it was not a huge secret.) The movie came out in 1997 with rave reviews, massive accolades, and eventually won 11 Oscars. At that time, a cinematic tied-record for one film along with the Charlton Heston classic Ben-Hur.
It’s 2023 and the movie that made us all feel like “King of the World” is coming to 4K for its 25th anniversary. That’s why the LA Times sat down with the prodigious director.
James Cameron: “They Made Our Set Look Bigger.”
Among the many headlines Titanic created was its gigantic budget of $200 million to bring the boat to life. He created an 800-foot-long set When Cameron understood the price tag, a brother had to cut some corners.
“We only cast short extras so it made our set look bigger,” said Cameron. “Anybody above 5’8”, we didn’t cast them. It’s like we got an extra million dollars of value out of casting.”
What just happened? Is that a check box on a Hollywood resume? “Hi. Do you need a step stool to reach the cereal in the pantry? Cool. You’re hired. No just shut up and stand by the iceberg over there.”
Yes, James Cameron admitted that he and his producer Jon Landau insisted only short people be hired for background roles. Evidently, these diminutive up-and-comers in Hollywood make the room look bigger. Or, in this case, the most infamous ocean liner ever.
“The scale of everything was beyond anything we could imagine in terms of our prior experience,” Cameron reflected. “At the time we thought, ‘Wow, there’s no way this movie could ever make its money back. It’s just impossible.’ Well, guess what?”
There were other cinematic tricks of the trade that helped shave some dimes from the budget. For instance, he used only two sets–one for the pre-iceberg scenes and one tilted at six degrees to replicate the Titanic sinking. You know? The one with all the bantamweights sliding down the deck of death.
Stay tuned for 2034, Titanic fans. There’s no telling what we’ll hear for the 25th anniversary of Avatar.
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
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