This is an interesting case. There are many stories from the Crew about the terrible experience they had working on Titanic, and if you worked in Hollywood production around that time you would hear more beyond the widely-documented stories of Kate Winslet nearly drowning and the chowder spiked with PCP. On Day 1, simply to make a point, Cameron picked up a tripod and threw it into the water saying it didn’t want to see that on his set. A Set P.A. was assigned to be at Cameron’s parking spot with a fresh cup of coffee, and if Cameron was late, another P.A. would provide replacement coffee so it would definitely be hot when the director arrived. There’s also so much footage that was shot and never used. When Entertainment Weekly visited Cameron during the edit, the director pointed to a shot that cost a million dollars to get and then he hit delete, removing it from the final cut.
This sounds wasteful, but it’s the nature of the business. What if that shot was kept in at the expense of slowing down the pace? What if Cameron had moved on when a moment was okay instead of reshooting it to his high standards? What if he didn’t suspend filming after the incident with Winslet and apologize to her? Titanic was a pain to make, but it went on to become one of the greatest critical and financial successes in cinema history. Knowing that ahead of time, would you go back and signup to work the show, becoming a part of history? I would.
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