The characters of Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) left behind one of the most iconic love stories in 90s cinema. Phrases like “paint me like one of your french girls” they have transcended the film released in 1997 and directed by James Cameronwhich remains to this day one of the highest grossing films in the film industry.
Another of the most mythical was uttered by DiCaprio on the deck of the Titanic, the enormous liner that ended up under the depths of the sea after colliding with an iceberg in the middle of the night and whose story was based on real events. We talk about “I am the king of the world!” that his character shouted along with his beloved betting partner, Fabrizio, after managing to sneak onto the ship. What many don’t know is that, if it weren’t for Cameron, we would almost not hear it on the big screen.
A last minute idea
It was the director himself who shared the anecdote in an interview for BBC Radio 1, in which he recalled how the phrase was finally included in the film and where the inspiration came from. “The point is that this It was improvised at that very moment. It was improvised right there,” Cameron confessed then.
“I was up in the basket of a crane. The power was going out, we had tried this and that, we had rehearsed one phrase and then another, and nothing was working. Literally everything was going wrong for me, and I thought: I have a phrase for you, Leo. Say you are the king of the world,” he added.
The actor, with whom the filmmaker was communicating at that time via walkie-talkie, couldn’t believe it. What was the point of saying those words in the middle of that scene? The script did not include them, which completely threw DiCaprio off. “Open your arms wide, enjoy it and celebrate this moment”Cameron insisted. The interpreter listened to him and the rest is history.
What if it had been Matthew McConaughey?
The phrase will haunt Leonardo DiCaprio until the end of his days, being one of the most iconic of his entire career. However, the achievement almost went to McConaughey. The actor revealed on the podcast Awards Chatter of The Hollywood Reporter what he came to do audition for the role of Jack in Titanic.
“I auditioned with Kate Winslet. It was a good audition. I left there quite confident that I had achieved itbut I didn’t get it. “They never offered it to me,” shared the performer of films like Interstellar (2014), Dallas Buyers Club (2013) o The innocent (2005).
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