James Cameron: Titanic director only cast extras shorter than 5’8 for cost-cutting trick
Titanic director James Cameron has said he only used short people as extras in the film to emphasise the enormous size of the set.
“We only cast short extras so it made our set look bigger,” he told the LA Times in an interview.
“Anybody above 5ft 8, we didn’t cast them. It’s like we got an extra million dollars of value out of casting.”
The Titanic leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage. Pic: AP
The Hollywood blockbuster, released 26 years ago next week, became the highest-earning film of all time – until Cameron beat his own record with Avatar in 2009.
The fictionalised retelling of the famous 1912 sinking cost a then record $200m (£159m) to produce because of the huge scale of the sets and sequences that needed complex engineering and massive resources.
But Cameron insisted he “never panicked… the studio panicked. It’s our job not to panic.”
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic. Pic:
20th Century Fox/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
One way in which Cameron and producer Jon Landau cut costs during production was by scrapping an entire set planned to be tilted at a three-degree angle – which they said saved $750,000 (£600,000)
The producers made do with two sets, one for pre-iceberg scenes that was level, and a second, tilted at a six-degree angle to replicate the sinking of the ship after it hit the iceberg.
“If the studio had had their way, they would have cut the entire ship sinking,” Cameron said.
James Cameron won the Best Director Oscar for Titanic. Pic: AP
“The smartest thing we did was do the sinking last. It wasn’t because of strategy – it was simply because you sink the set last because otherwise it doesn’t look so good the next morning when you bring it back up.”
The director also admitted there were miscalculations in logistics even before the cameras rolled.
“It was hundreds of miles of cabling, all the Musco lights [sports lighting] in Hollywood at the time,” Cameron said.
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A model used in the filming of Titanic. Pic: 20th Century Fox/Paramount/Digital Domain/Kobal/Shutterstock
“The scale of everything was beyond anything we could imagine in terms of our prior experience.
“At the time we thought, wow, there’s no way this movie could ever make its money back. It’s just impossible. Well, guess what?”
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Titanic took more than $1.8bn (£1.4bn) during its initial run, and that figure has grown to $2.2bn (£1.7bn) with subsequent re-releases, Box Office Mojo said.
The movie was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11, including Best Picture.
Entertainment
MasterChef presenter John Torode says allegation he used racist language upheld in report
Entertainment
Gregg Wallace: Over half of allegations against MasterChef presenter substantiated, including one of unwanted physical contact
An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were substantiated. All were related to MasterChef.
While the majority of the substantiated allegations related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated.
One allegation of unwanted physical contact was substantiated.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. Those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace for contact today.
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