Titanic (2)
"Even when I first read the script, I never imagined Cal would turn out to be that kind of character."
After the movie was released, the actors were occasionally invited to various dinners. Sometimes these were business-related gatherings, but often, people just wanted to treat them to a meal and hear the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of filming.
Today's gathering was clearly the latter. Leonardo DiCaprio comfortably shared stories about Titanic in a room filled with industry insiders, including directors and screenwriters.
"The Cal we see now is practically Sion's creation. I learned so much just watching him act."
"Was he not originally like that?"
"James wrote him a bit flatly. Well, I suppose that would have been fine too. But... during filming, Kate and I needed someone we could truly 'fight' against, and Sion brought that role to life in the most spectacular way. Right, Kate?"
"Leo, you always have a habit of overcomplicating things," Kate, sitting right next to him, teased.
Indeed, after filming Titanic, the two had become the absolute best of friends. Going through hardships together naturally bonds people, and filming Titanic—especially because of James—had been an incredibly grueling ordeal.
"Everyone knows how much of a perfectionist Director Cameron is. Keeping up with him was no easy feat."
On set, James had behaved like a mad control freak the entire time. In some ways, it wasn't an exaggeration to say he was worse than 'Cal'. The problem was that the director himself suffered just as much as, if not more than, the actors and crew, so no one dared to question his methods. Even though he could have easily sat back in comfort, he personally put on chest waders, plunged into the set, directed the scenes, and even helped clean up.
So, as obnoxious and infuriating as his perfectionism was, they had no choice but to quietly follow along.
Kate described the experience back then like this:
"We were literally trapped on the Titanic."
Although the film depicted a real historical disaster, it didn't want to portray it as merely hopeless. It incorporated many actual anecdotes from the tragedy to depict the nobility of humanity even in the face of death, and through the romance of Jack and Rose, it made their final moments feel extraordinarily special.
Thus, the relationship between Jack and Rose, which some might have dismissed as a mere affair or a fleeting rebellion...
"Became true love."
Watching Kate smile softly, just like Rose in the movie, everyone at the table felt their hearts skip a beat. While watching the film, they had truly felt the sincerity of her love through her performance.
"As time went on, the grueling nature of the shoot began to overlap with my reality, and I genuinely felt like I had become Rose. I kept wondering why I couldn't escape the Titanic, to the point where I grew to hate the set itself."
In that sense, Rose was a being who yearned for freedom, and the Titanic was the obstacle blocking her path. And her fiancé, Cal, was the embodiment of that very ship.
"Sion expressed that role perfectly."
During filming, Kate Winslet, who was just shedding her rookie skin and being hailed as a rising star, could barely breathe under the overwhelming pressure of Sion's acting. But with the help of those around her, she broke through that pressure and grew even further.
...Ironically, it was by trusting Sion Lee, who completely suppressed her, and Leonardo, who set her free, that Kate slowly began to spread her wings.
"Do you know how thrilling that was?"
Kate smiled radiantly and began to talk about the best scene she had filmed.
The Titanic begins to sink.
The ship's crew controls the flow of information. They convey the truth only to the first-class passengers, prioritizing women and children for evacuation. On the other hand, the lower-class passengers are locked behind iron gates under the pretext of maintaining order.
The lower class is left to die slowly in the dark, completely ignorant of the reality.
Rose cannot comprehend the situation.
[Are there class divisions for the lifeboats too?]
Watching her mother utter such absurdly ignorant words even in a life-or-death situation, Rose feels a deep sense of disgust.
In truth, she has already spread her wings, ready to fly toward freedom. Jack, whom she met on this very ship, made that possible.
The two have already become one through a profound emotional connection. In every sense of the word.
Rose stood before Leo completely bare, wearing only the Heart of the Ocean necklace Cal had gifted her, posing as his portrait model.
For the first time in her life, Rose felt truly free... and realized what she truly wanted.
But Cal has already set his traps to force Rose back to him.
Framing Jack for stealing the Heart of the Ocean, Cal has him arrested and handcuffed to a pipe in a lower-deck cabin. If left there, Jack will undoubtedly sink to the bottom of the ocean with the Titanic.
Though Rose's mind is temporarily paralyzed by the sudden, overwhelming terror of death, she finds her courage renewed as she listens to the repulsive words and actions of the high-society passengers.
At this point, Kate Winslet's performance grips the audience's hearts.
"You have to go! For your own sake!"
"Leave and find your freedom! Save your true love!"
She could die. As this massive ship sinks beneath the freezing ocean waters.
Having previously contemplated throwing herself into the sea only to back down, she understands that terror more deeply than anyone.
But...
"Half the people on this ship are going to die! Please, Mother, shut up!"
"Not the better half. We have value, after all."
"You absolute piece of trash..."
Rose shows her utter disgust toward Cal, who casually measures the value of human lives. With that, her chains are completely broken.
"Where do you think you're going? To be a whore to that gutter rat?!"
"I'd rather be his whore than your wife."
And Cal cannot comprehend this situation at all.
For the first time in the film, Cal displays violent, raw emotion as he tries to grab Rose. But right into his face, Rose spits with all her might—just as Jack had taught her.
"Whoa..."
This was the scene where, after Kate Winslet had filmed it dozens of times, Sion Lee joked, "I guess I don't need to apply moisturizer today."
The two had burst into laughter after shooting it, but for the audience watching the scene—which perfectly preserved the raw, agonizing conflict—it sent shivers down their spines.
Rose breaks away on her own two feet.
Finally, the caged bird spreads its wings and soars into the sky.
Escaping the clutches of Cal, who sought to control her, she finds Jack, and the two attempt to escape together.
The passengers of the sinking ship are depicted during this sequence.
Some pray, some play musical instruments, and others run around in a panic.
As the screen tilts to an almost absurd, terrifying angle, freezing water slowly floods every visible space. The audience feels a gripping sense of realism, as if they are watching actual footage of a real-world disaster.
It was for this very vividness that an astronomical budget of 200 million dollars had been poured into the film.
Midway through, Rose is given a chance to safely board a lifeboat and escape, but she gives it up and climbs back onto the ship.
Jack runs to her, hugs her, and asks:
"Why did you do that? Why?!"
"You jump, I jump, right?"
The words Jack had used to stop Rose from committing suicide at the beginning of the film are thrown right back at him.
"Please let Jack and Rose live! Oh my God!"
From that point on, tears begin to stream uncontrollably from the audience's eyes.
"Sob... ugh..."
"Sniff... oh god..."
Even stoic men, deeply immersed in the film, shed tears.
Seeing their husbands, who had only ever learned to suppress their emotions, break down, wives wiped their own tears while offering soft, comforting smiles and squeezing their hands.
But the villain pursuing the two has not given up yet.
Cal, who has lived his entire life in privilege, obtaining and owning everything he ever wanted, cannot tolerate the very existence of Jack and Rose, who make choices completely different from his own.
Having completely lost his mind, he chases after them to kill them.
Like the massive waves crashing into the interior of the sinking Titanic, Cal firing his pistol wildly makes him look like an absolute demon.
Sociopath, narcissist, Machiavellian.
The moment a man with every imaginable personality defect crumbles before a disaster beyond human control.
Yet, Jack and Rose safely slip from his grasp. Cal, left behind, catches a glimpse of his disheveled self in a mirror. He barely manages to adjust his hair and clothes, regaining a semblance of composure.
He makes his way up to the deck.
He sees a crying child.
Cal picks up the child, looks at the ship, and feels a profound sense of disillusionment at his own struggle among the lower-class passengers.
Rose is gone, and the Heart of the Ocean is gone.
Unable to accept this "defeat," Cal hands the child over to a woman nearby.
And he returns to his stateroom.
Until the very end, he embodies the human struggle between pride and the primal urge to survive.
He presses the gun to his temple, intending to pull the trigger, but cannot bring himself to do it.
The gaze he casts upon the rushing water is filled with helplessness, despair, and madness.
In his final moments, Cal fights through the torrent, stepping onto a bed to keep his head above water.
As the water finally submerges his face, the last word he leaves behind plunges everyone watching into a deep sense of irony.
"Rose..."
The one thing he wanted so desperately to possess, but never could.
To Cal, Rose was his Heart of the Ocean.
For a brief moment, it seemed he might meet his end with the dignity of an elegant heir, but in the face of inevitable death, he ultimately clings to the ceiling chandelier, poking his head out and screaming for help.
But the water rising to the ceiling completely erases him from the screen, leaving the audience with an unspeakable sense of despair and sorrow.
It was the miserable end of the most powerful figure and villain in the film.
"How can someone his age deliver a performance like that?"
"Oh, oh... this is so heartbreaking..."
Thus, in the face of a colossal disaster, everything created by man is reduced to absolute nothingness.
People are depicted falling like flies.
A massive ship. An ocean far, far greater.
Eventually, unable to bear its own weight, the ship snaps in half like a toy, and one half rises vertically into the air.
A scene reminiscent of cosmic horror.
"Aaaaaaaah—!!"
A woman clinging desperately to the railing loses her grip, sliding down and falling hundreds of feet below.
Watching this, Rose and Jack lean on each other, fighting off the creeping despair as they try to hold on.
And then, the ship sinks completely.
"It's over. Everything is over."
This is, without a doubt, a movie.
Yet, the scenes delicately captured on film make everyone weep.
Countless bodies float on the surface of the ocean, dead.
Ironically, because they are wearing life jackets, their ends look even more painful and miserable.
In the North Atlantic, the water temperature of minus two degrees Celsius drives people to an agonizing death within thirty minutes.
Their lips and faces are pale white, and their eyebrows are covered in frost.
Yet, even in such a moment...
"Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me..."
Jack speaks of hope, exhaling white frost.
Jack, submerged in the freezing water, and Rose, lying on a wooden door.
"Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what occurs, no matter how hopeless..."
Leaving those final words behind, Jack dies of hypothermia.
Looking no different from the other frozen bodies.
As if to show that all humans are equal in the end.
"Ugh, hhh..."
The theater, too, is swallowed by a sea of cold, sorrowful tears.
The final scene of Titanic concludes by showing Rose, now 101 years old, passing away peacefully.
The ship that sank in the North Atlantic returns to its 1912 glory.
The rusted, moss-covered decks that had rested at the bottom of the sea for nearly a century transform back into their luxurious, warm state, leading to the grand spiral staircase at the heart of the ship—one of the film's most iconic locations.
Rose slowly walks up the stairs, where Jack stands waiting to welcome her.
The two share a kiss, symbolizing a love that will be remembered for eternity as the film comes to an end.
Just as Sion Lee had predicted, Titanic shattered every record in existence.
Much like the actual Titanic did in its time, the film brought an immense shock to the people of 1997.
An astronomical budget of 200 million dollars.
The resulting historical accuracy and overwhelming scale.
Furthermore, the passionate performances of rising stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, supported by a stellar cast.
In his past life, some had said that Titanic was a movie you watched just to see Leonardo DiCaprio's handsome face.
But in this life, with Sion Lee playing Caledon Hockley, the narrative had shifted.
Titanic was now a film about the protagonist, Rose, finding her freedom between two men.
...And 20th Century Fox's stance on this was clearly reflected in their upcoming schedule.
As the film crossed the 100-million-dollar box office mark in record time, 20th Century Fox organized European premieres, starting in the United Kingdom.
The actors attending these events put on various performances under Sion Lee's lead... and the one that received the most explosive response was this:
"Alright. Shall we?"
At Sion's signal, Kate linked arms with the two men on either side of her.
Cal on her right. Jack on her left.
With the two of them flanking her, Kate Winslet looked truly happy.
...And how could she not? She was standing between the two most handsome men in the world, both of whom had acted out their love and obsession for her in their own distinct ways.
Countless women in the audience looked on in envy, their gazes darting back and forth between Sion and Leo, unable to choose between them until the very end.
Sion gave a subtle nod, and Leo shrugged lightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Kate Winslet shouted enthusiastically to the audience, who were deeply moved after watching the film.
Then, Sion and Leo slowly leaned in and kissed her on each cheek.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!"
The premiere venue instantly erupted into absolute chaos.
In the movie, it was Jack Dawson who won Rose's heart.
But in reality, the public's devotion was split exactly down the middle between 'Cal' and 'Jack'.
The film Titanic, which brought the two together, seemed to herald the arrival of a brand-new era for Hollywood actors.