James Cameron changed the world with his 1997 movie Titanic. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the lead roles, the movie was felt around the world with feelings of love and sadness.
Directors have often gone to extreme lengths to get that perfect shot for their movies and James Cameron is no exception. Recalling Kate Winslet’s almost drowning sequence, the director essentially gaslit Winslet into thinking that she was actually dying to get the true essence of fear seen on her face in the movie!
When James Cameron Gaslit Kate Winslet Into Thinking She Was Drowning
Featuring a story of a poor man falling in love with a rich woman, Titanic was hailed as a masterpiece by critics and people around the world. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet shined in their role as Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater which defined their Hollywood careers.
Sitting at the helm of the project was James Cameron as the director of the movie. Little did the actors know Cameron’s passion for cinema that he would force them to go to extreme lengths just to get that perfect shot or expression. In an interview with Playboy, the director talked about the time Winslet thought she was drowning and he left the camera rolling.
The interviewer revealed that there was a point where Winslet thought that she would definitely die. Winslet was thinking the words “Please, God, let me die” while filming the scenes, and director Cameron was held responsible for her condition. Defending his side, Cameron said that the whole point of that shot was to get that fear on her face.
“I’ll cop to my faults, but I’ll also defend the situation in a rational way, and it goes like this: Isn’t the purpose of being attracted to something intense and challenging—such as, say, white-water rafting—to come out the other side and tell everybody how you almost died?”
He further continued,
“It doesn’t mean you almost died. We simply let Kate think she was nearly drowning. A little sputtering and coughing does not count in my book, because I have almost drowned several times and know what it feels like.”
Setting off a rant, Cameron also let it slip up that the making of Titanic was a very messy process as he too was facing financial pressure at that time. He did admit that the pressure did play a little role in the intense moments that he created during Titanic but claimed that Kate Winslet’s thoughts were 99 percent hers and hers alone.
The Making of Titanic Was A Disaster for James Cameron
In his interview after talking about Kate Winslet, the director joked that he was thinking the same thing, for God to let him die. Talking about the conditions that he had to face while filming Titanic, Cameron revealed that he too was suffering from a great deal of pressure.
“Asking God to please let you die? I was thinking the same thing at about the same point. Titanic was a catastrophic production financially and getting worse every day. Kate probably got some unnecessary stress from me, but I would say 99 percent of her stress was internally induced as part of her acting process.”
In the end, Titanic was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the world as the trio of James Cameron, Kate Winslet, and, Leonardi DiCaprio became famous. The movie received a rating of 7.9/10 on IMDB and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Titanic is currently available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
Source: Playboy
