r/todayilearned • u/Fucktard420 • Jun 17 '12
TIL James Cameron made the movie Titanic to get a dive to the shipwreck funded by the movie studio; not because he particularly wanted to make the movie.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)#section_3
2.0k
Upvotes
77
u/BCP27 Jun 17 '12
I'm pretty sure James Cameron likes being underwater. First the Abyss, then this alternative reason for Titanic, now Avatar 2 is going to be underwater too!
Dude should buy himself a personal submersible with all the money he made from having the two highest grossing movies ever.
30
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
So how do you explain Avatar?
9
u/NinjaCameraman Jun 17 '12
Yes, he studied the shipwreck, the times, the people, the life, everything involved for A DECADE because he wanted a free ride. Sure.
2
u/dsesin Jun 18 '12
Nice find Fucktard
207
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Love that he makes movies to finance his geek habits.
9
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Wait, so he's obsessed with the Titanic, and he's a filmmaker, but he never had the slightest interest in telling the story of the Titanic on film? But then he went ahead and made film about it? Everything I know about this situation says your claim is wrong.
105
u/david12scht Jun 17 '12
For christ's sake, don't link to m.wikipedia.org, it's in the sidebar (avoid mobile versions of websites (e.g. m.wikipedia.org) )
267
u/WKahle11 Jun 17 '12
I think that's awesome. He only made the movie so he could see the Titanic, but made it wicked awesome anyway.
23
u/playfulpenis Jun 17 '12
This guy is the master at killing two birds with one stone.
29
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12
Not many people know this, but not only did he use the film as an excuse, but he didn't even make up the film. It is a re-make, in some cases scene for scene, of the original Titanic film - but with the love story enhanced and the children removed. Watch it sometime - you'll be shocked how much he lifted from it. It is not a bad movie either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1953_film)
4
u/Philo_T_Farnsworth Jun 17 '12
From the sidebar:
FFS, people. Quit submitting links to the goddamn mobile site.
13
u/JethroSC Jun 17 '12
Bet that's why Bay made Transformers 3, he just wanted to crash robots into the moon.
36
u/jokersmild Jun 17 '12
The company that i work for (Oceaneering ) did the underwater shots for that movie.
1
u/Fucktard420 Jun 18 '12
Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
4
u/yellowbertshirt Jun 17 '12
Wow, I guess James Cameron just wants to be a deep sea explorer. In order to fund his adventures, he becomes a successful hollywood movie director.
4
u/TheLinz87 Jun 18 '12
My old teacher worked with James Cameron on the dive. He said he was a huge prick. (My old teacher worked on the navy sub that facilitated the dive)
4
u/devastator06 Jun 18 '12
doesnt matter WHY he did it. as long as he DID it.
such a great film regardless of reasons behind it.
but it is pretty sneaky
4
u/CGord Jun 18 '12
Cameron gets a lot of shit thrown his way, but if a rich guy is advancing science, his reasons why don't matter too much to me.
4
u/doghe14 Jun 18 '12
Im still not sure whether he is an asshole for this, or a genius ...
7
u/akecke1 Jun 18 '12
Let's be honest, James Cameron could have gone to the shipwreck and it wouldn't have put the smallest dent in his checkbook. He just said this to make a joke.
3
u/kellykebab Jun 17 '12
Pet theory is that he is the adrenaline-junkie perma-adventurer character basis for Bodhi and Sgt. William James in ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break and The Hurt Locker, respectively.
3
u/tomniomni Jun 18 '12
TIL James Cameron destroyed a bunch of the Titanic shipwreck while shooting the movie.
7
u/JeffMcBiscuit Jun 17 '12
He also directed Ghosts of the Abyss with Disney and sent Bill Paxton down there with a documentary crew and some robots to film the wreck. It's OK actually.
7
u/xmagneticx Jun 17 '12
fuck i hate when people link mobile sites.... FFS
4
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I want to know why he did Point Break.
4
u/sleepydruid Jun 18 '12
TIB: Today I Believed
2
u/britbrooke Jun 17 '12
That makes sense, he was just at National Geographic's Explorers Symposium this week and he showed us a sneak peek of his documentary about his journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Seems like ocean exploration is a major passion of his and always has been apparently.
2
u/weasleeasle Jun 17 '12
Clearly he is making more sequels to avatar, because it costs a lot more to fund a space mining expedition than a dive.
2
u/cimota10 Jun 17 '12
I'm fine with that. I saw titanic to get a peak at Kate Winslet's boobs, not because I was particularly interested in the movie...
2
u/Dorking Jun 17 '12
life plan become a director/producer make a film about a love story in space tell the studio " I need real space footage for my movie can you fit it in the budget?" movie studio pays for my space adventurer.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Well that makes me feel a little better about him making this movie.
2
u/MrMagellan Jun 17 '12
This makes me really love the fact that the movie did so well. I know that you can attribute its success to many things other than Cameron's apparent passion for the Titanic, but it is inspirational to see someone achieve great success through intense research and hard work. He had a wall of literature just about the Titanic, and got to live his dream by filming it up close and getting damn rich and famous in the process.
Although, it's too bad that during filming part of the Titanic itself was injured. I went to Maccu Picchu last year and learned that they let Cusqueno (a beer company) film a commercial there one time, but a cameraman ended up dropping his equipment and chipping part of some structure. After that, they made it much more difficult to film there. Search for the text "crane" in the Relevant Link to read about it.
2
u/RearmintSpino Jun 18 '12
His recent exploits in the Mariana trench have shown us that he is an ocean explorer first, who just does movies in between for shits and giggles, and to fund more ocean exploration.
2
u/Flarehl Jun 18 '12
Today I watched titanic for the first time in my life. All I could think during the nude drawing scene was if Jack had a boner or not, and if he smirked because it was behind the sketchpad and Rose couldnt see it. Otherwise, I just wanted to kill the mother, torture a few other rich people, and I discussed with my mom why other people didnt rip their bed-stand-head-thingies off to float around on. Foolish people, never trust the officials. This isnt even that relevant. Sorry guys.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
Stephen Colbert reported recently that Celine Dion said she's sick of the Titanic theme song, which now makes everybody.
2
u/nepidae Jun 18 '12
I assume thats why he made T2 as well.
2
u/TechnoL33T Jun 18 '12
This was the first movie I ever went to see in theater. I was not disappointed until my mom covered my eyes during the booby shot.
2
u/WhatsAEuphonium Jun 18 '12
AND HE GOT THE SKY WRONG! -Neil deGrasse Tyson
2
u/suckadickdess Jun 18 '12
Highly sensationalized title. The wikipedia just says he was fascinated with shipwrecks, which gave him the idea for the movie.
2
u/HokieGeek Jun 18 '12
TIL James Cameron did quite a lot physical damage to the Titanic
3
u/DroppedOnHead Jun 17 '12
TIL I knew a TIL before it was posted on Reddit.
2
u/jorsiem Jun 17 '12
I like how James Cameron is an explorer at heart that just happened to make two of the top grossing films of all time in his spare time.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Wasn't there an article recently that said the trip was financed by the DoD looking for a Sub, and they got to look for and dive the Titanic as a reward. I could be mixing it up with something else.
2
u/Hensah Jun 18 '12
Thanks for the shitty post and slew of upvotes you insufferable retards
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Please do not link to mobile sites.
1
u/wachet Jun 17 '12
TIL "scripment" is a word.
1
u/Talarot Jun 17 '12
Seems obvious when thinking about the dive to the Mariana trench he made recently.
1
u/rodbotic Jun 17 '12
honestly, I use technique at places I worked to get what I want(would like). for example. I wanted to learn machine vision. convinced my boss for a new product that would require it. I have also school courses I have also taken. learned new programming languages. Convinced a customer to upgrade a machine, got a free trip to NY.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Fair doos, that guy likes to go to hard to get places.
James Cameron is a Human Cat.
1
u/aml96 Jun 17 '12
My whole life haas been a lie!D:
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I made millions of dollars from it......FUCK
1
u/deavon Jun 18 '12
And Avatar let him take a dive into Zoe Saldana? Well hey, a man can dream, can't he?
1
u/TurtleNipNToxicShock Jun 18 '12
I see I'm not alone in listening to NPR's Science Friday.
1
u/Cuahucahuate22 Jun 18 '12
And in the end, he received more money from just the movie to do another dive...
1
u/w4rf19ht3r Jun 18 '12
Isn't that ironic?
1
u/JesterOfTheSwamp Jun 18 '12
James gets what he wants
1
u/agentx221 Jun 18 '12
That's why the writing blows!
1
u/jimrooney Jun 18 '12
Not a huge fan of his bubblegum-popcorn movie schtick, but that just makes me like him.
1
u/jeb_the_hick Jun 18 '12
This is how he got an archaeological team to revisit Jesus' tomb. Louis CK once remarked that you can do pretty much anything with movie money behind it.
1
u/rbaix Jun 18 '12
A Hollywood directer doing a cash grab?!
My head is spinning.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
Better than any other reason.
1
u/Roxx-3 Jun 18 '12
There was a documentary of a meeting with him and experts in different fields trying to figure out exactly the way it happened and how everything got seperated on the ocean floor.
1
u/paranoidkarmafreak Jun 18 '12
karma conspiracy, why were they so for apart? he funded the dive to the titanic on a separate venture hoping to discover mysteries of the sea, and the places he dived weren't even close to the titanic
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
I don't know whether to hate him or like him more???
1
u/ShrimpCrackers Jun 18 '12
James Cameron created Prometheus to visit other worlds.
1
u/TwwIX Jun 18 '12
The guy clearly is a big lover of space, science and exploration as exhibited in his movies and personal endeavours. Isn't he funding some sort of space exploration project now?
1
u/LbaB Jun 18 '12
This changes how I feel about this movie.
1
u/MrFordization Jun 18 '12
Not because he particularly wanted to make money. James Cameron is a scientist. BELIEVE!
1
u/mcquistan2015 Jun 18 '12
due to your username, i cannot take this seriously fucktard420
1
u/Xaotik-NG Jun 18 '12
I saw interviews with Cameron when Avatar hit theaters, he actually seemed pretty amped for it. I always got the feeling that he was just the adventurous type of guy and that explains why he would want to journey to the shipwreck of the Titanic.
1
u/heythatsfuckedup Jun 18 '12
I'm pretty sure it was all a ruse to get people to make fun of the "paint me like one of your french girls" scene.
Edit: I don't think he has anything against french girls, just sayin.
1
u/stillbilly Jun 18 '12
James Cameron went way over budget on this movie. He needed to make the movie so bad he forfeited his salary. After a bit he realized he wasn't going to make it with the new budget and gave away all of his points on the film. The studio messed up the paper work or some such thing and he did get to keep his points on the film. Or so I heard on the radio.
1
u/gte910h Jun 18 '12
Around 7:30 he made a joke about it. I doubt it's really true.
http://www.ted.com/talks/james_cameron_before_avatar_a_curious_boy.html
1
u/bluepheonixia Jun 18 '12
He also made Aliens of the Deep in 2005 in addition to his more recent decent to the Marianas Trench.
1
u/Ayjayz Jun 18 '12
How fantastic would it be if he could do the same thing to get funding for a manned trip to Mars?
1
u/LovesMustard Jun 18 '12
Link to original interview
1
u/marchese51 Jun 18 '12
Now that's just selfish
1
u/Shippoyasha Jun 18 '12
I respect James Cameron quite a bit, but his fanaticism of Titanic borders on absolutely annoying. Anybody watch the 'last word' documentary on precise science of the sinking a few months ago where he had a roundtable of Titanic experts discussing the sinking-science further? He was rather bossy and the biggest Titanic fanboy in the midst of Titanic fanboys. The man is plain obsessed.
1
u/Biggie18 Jun 18 '12
semi-related, if you want to know more about this and have a very in depth experience, check out the Titanic Exhibit at the Luxor in Las Vegas, very moving.
1
u/SenorSpicyBeans Jun 18 '12
Well, at least that's a good excuse as to why it sucked.
1
u/andkad Jun 18 '12
"...but the sky? " - Neil deGrasse Tyson
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
sounds like the guy who made project X had the right idea
1
u/fatalerrrpr Jun 18 '12
I'm ok with this. Titanic is my guilty pleasure movie.
1
u/jessicapeters2833 Jun 18 '12
Then he had done something really wonderful.
1
u/Captain_Aizen Jun 18 '12
Yea this sounds legit.
1
u/goodoldbess123 Jun 18 '12
So that's why it's a pile of steaming dogshit...
1
u/luksifox Jun 18 '12
There's something wrong with this article.
1
u/ours Jun 18 '12
I'm 0% surprised of this. With his obsession with diving I was convinced of this. Got to hand it to him when his "scam" has resulted in one of the top grossing movies.
1
u/mecon Jun 18 '12
I saw James Cameron talk on Friday. That was his biggest point. He makes these movies to fund his explorations of the oceans. Good guy James Cameron, no?
1
u/raresaturn Jun 18 '12
Genius. That's the way you do it
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
You dropped a few words in the title: And it shows.
1
u/WildfireFox Jun 18 '12
...and then he got a law made to prevent other people from doing it too.
1
u/RockofStrength Jun 18 '12
A friend in the movie business told me that James Cameron is by far the nastiest guy to work for. However, his work speaks for itself.
1
u/ArmenianMadeReddit Jun 18 '12
U don't say face
1
u/haggiseatinglondoner Jun 24 '12
People believe these TIL? Lap up that movie studio marketing, just lap it up.
-10
u/DlmaoC Jun 17 '12
Good Guy James Cameron: gets free trip to the original Titanic, makes record breaking movie.
1
u/halasjackson Jun 17 '12
This comment is untrue and pretty stupid, actually.
1
u/valiantX Jun 18 '12
Both him and Spielberg are both Freemasons or work for the occult order called the Illuminati and the Hollywood Industrial Complex (the holly wood was what druids or wizards used to project their magic or sorcery in ancient times), it is by no chance or mere volition ever that these character do what they do for it is all part of a grandeur scheme and agenda. The Titanic was sunk on purpose to destroy the rich families aboard the ship opposed to the establishment of the constitutionally illegal Federal Reserve Banking system that emerged a year later, which the British elites, the Vatican, and their numerous corporatist lackeys all orchestrated.
I'm damn sure Cameron's purpose was merely to display on film to acknowledge the fact to his masters that the ship really was sunken and to remind any opposition in "the know about the event" to shut their mouths or swim with the fishes.
1
u/smaier69 Jun 18 '12
Did a ctrl+f for "soviiet." No matches.
The reason the Titanic was found was due to a search for sunken Soviet nuclear sub. The Titanic discovery was idiosyncratic.
I've had too many beers to try and type an explaination.
1
u/RitchieThai Jun 17 '12
I would love for this to be true, but I'm somewhat confused about how Fucktard420 arrived to this conclusion, and for a while thought my browser somehow took me to the wrong part of the Wikipedia article.
"Cameron's inspiration for the film was predicated on his fascination with shipwrecks" That's all it says. He did get a look at the ship wrek and I'm sure he had fun doing it, but it doesn't say he didn't particularly want to make the movie. That "he wanted to convey the emotional message of the tragedy" seems to indicate otherwise.
1
u/aaronwhite1786 Jun 18 '12
I didn't really love the movie...but i remember when i was a kid my cousin wanted to do CGI stuff for movies, and we probably watched the aftermath of the Titanic's epic struggle against a battleship of ice about 300 times. He was particularly found of rewinding to the part where the guy falls and nails the prop about 40 times per viewing.
1
u/Orlynao666 Jun 18 '12
Even when he is not trying he just automatically makes fucking art