Rewatchables Reference

• The dinner party scene where Jack joins first class – Leo's best scene, his 'life's a gift' speech. Bill says this alone should have gotten Leo a Best Actor nomination.
• Jack and Rose on the front of the ship ('I'm the king of the world').
• Jack drawing Rose (the nude scene) – the first scene filmed with Leo and Kate.
• Jack and Rose running from Lovejoy, then having sex in the car (hand on windshield).
• The iceberg scene – the tension of trying to turn, thinking they'll make it, then the scrape.
• Rose's 'I'd rather be his whore than your wife' and the spit in Billy Zane's face (possibly improvised).
• The boat sinking, breaking in half, and tipping over – described as a horror movie.
• Jack's death, Rose blowing the whistle, swimming to the rescue boat.
• The ending – Rose walks up the stairs on the restored 'Titanic', sees Jack waiting.
• Van's picks: Cal grabbing a gun and trying to kill Jack and Rose (the 'OJ turn'); the below-deck party where Rose stands on her toes.

• Leo and Kate's careers over 25 years – the #1 answer.
• James Cameron as director.
• The score – many variations of the Celine Dion theme, fantastic throughout.
• 'My Heart Will Go On' – one of the most identifiable songs attached to a movie ever.
• The band continuing to play as the ship sinks.
• Bill Paxton (RIP) – great to see him, especially now that he's passed away.
• The mother reading to her children as the ship sinks (the actress from Terminator 2).

• The movie is 3 hours and 15 minutes – a gulp when you see the runtime.
• Danny Nucci's Italian accent as Fabrizio.
• Billy Zane's performance – dialed up, a little 'SNL sketch-ish.' William Goldman wrote scathing criticism.
• Robert Altman called it 'the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life.'
• The Picasso scene where Cal says he 'won't amount to anything' – Goldman called it full of 'howlers.'
• The movie doesn't deal in subtlety with its characters.

• Johnny Depp turned down Jack because he didn't like the script.
• James Cameron wanted Jared Leto to play Jack, but Leto wouldn't audition.
• Cameron supposedly wanted Claire Danes for Rose.
• Jeremy Sisto auditioned multiple times for Jack. Billy Crudup was considered but couldn't get out of Without Limits.
• Leo crushed his audition. When Winslet screen-tested with him, she whispered to the camera 'He's great, even if you don't pick me, pick him.'
• Winslet lobbied hard, sending Cameron notes.
• Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder were mentioned for Rose.
• Matthew McConaughey turned down Cal.
• Cameron wanted Enya for the music, settled on Celine Dion.
• Robert De Niro was supposed to be Captain Smith but had a gastrointestinal infection.
• Leo turned down 'Boogie Nights' (Dirk Diggler) to do 'Titanic' – great call.

Billy Zane – most of his scenes are dialed up to 11.

• Kathy Bates as the Unsinkable Molly Brown – might have been in the movie too much, but she crushes it.
• The band playing as the ship sinks.

• David Warner as Lovejoy (Cal's henchman) – 'been in a million things.'
• The actress from Terminator 2 who reads to her children as the ship sinks (also in 'Lethal Weapon 2').

For Cal: Van suggests 1997 Matt Damon but Bill says he's too close to Leo. Ben Affleck would work perfectly. Brendan Fraser also mentioned.

• Jack and Rose are fictional; supporting characters are mostly historically accurate.
• Cameron did 12 dives to the real 'Titanic' wreck, spent more time with the ship than its living passengers.
• They didn't know until after the movie was made that there was a real J. Dawson gravestone – coincidence.
• Third-class passengers being barricaded below deck – basically no evidence to support this; may be a movie invention.
• The band played ragtime music in real life, not the poignant slow music in the film.
• The S.S. Californian was very close but had turned its radio off – Cameron chose to omit this.
• The stairway water scene had one chance to film – no do-overs.
• 150 extras played the ship's passengers; Cameron met every one and gave them backstories.
• The film ran so long in theaters that Paramount had to send replacement reels because they were wearing out.

• Leonardo DiCaprio: Debated – Bill says yes (biggest star in the world after this). Van argues 'The Departed' (2006) might be the true apex because people don't think of 'Titanic' first when they think of Leo now.
• Kate Winslet: Probably not – her mid-2000s run culminating in her 2008 Oscar for The Reader is more likely.
• James Cameron: Yes – critical success, financial success, Gone With the Wind status.
• Billy Zane: Yes.
• Expensive bad-buzz movies that turned out great: Yes, beats 'The Godfather'.
• Icebergs: Yes.
• Disaster movies: Yes – the best one ever.

• Kathy Bates lends Jack a tuxedo and it fits perfectly – 'That's not how sizes work.'
• The below-deck party: all the poor people in 1912 are square dancing and drinking Guinness – that's it.
• Rose's family has no money but it's a secret – how are they still paying for things?
• Could Jack and Rose both have fit on the floating door? They gave it one attempt.
• Rose finds handcuffed Jack on the fifth story based on vague directions.
• Rose takes an axe and breaks his chains – what if she didn't find an axe?
• Jack and Fabrizio won their tickets in poker, but they were broke – what did they put up as stakes?

Could be remade as a 10-episode Netflix show – Bill says yes. Notes there was already a Neve Campbell/Chris Noth 'Titanic' show around 2012 that didn't work.

• Cameron says whether Rose is alive and dreaming or dead at the end is up to interpretation.
• What sex position were Jack and Rose in during the car scene? Extensive comedic analysis.
• Is 'Titanic' the best argument that climate change isn't the worst thing? (No more icebergs in a warmer world.)
• How long would Jack and Rose have stayed together if they both survived? Both hosts think they would have married.

• Van: The nickel-plated .45 pistol that Lovejoy had.
• Bill: The 'Titanic' ticket Leo wins in the poker game. Or the 8 framed photos of Rose by her bed.

Leonardo DiCaprio – became the biggest star of the last 25 years.

• Craig Horlbeck defends Rose against 'Rose slander': she 'cheated' on an abusive fiancé she was basically arranged to marry; there IS a photo of her husband and children on her nightstand; the other photos are all things Jack told her to do; dropping the necklace was finding closure after 60 years.
• Bill and Van remain unconvinced.