Titanic: Why the spitting scene with Jack and Rose was almost cut by the studio

One of the most memorable works of the 1990s, Titanic was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11 of them, as Best Film and Best Director (James Cameron). With this feat, the film tied the historical record for the highest number of statuettes won by Ben-Hurin 1960. A few years later, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Kingin 2004, also reached the same level.

The film was first released on December 19, 1997, and re-released in 2023, in honor of its 25th anniversary. At the box office, success was not far behind: it was the first film to surpass the US$1 billion mark, and remained at the top of that list until 2010. Today, Titanic holds the status of the third highest-grossing film of all time, totaling approximately $2.2 billion dollars — behind only Avatar and Avengers: Endgamewhich raised US$2.92 billion and US$2.79 billion, respectively.

Composing the stellar cast, Leonardo DiCaprioat just 22 years old, played Jack Dawson. Despite having already participated in major productions before, this was the role that officially launched him to stardom: Jack It was fundamental to his prosperous career in Hollywood and his popularity as a heartthrob of the time. Next to Kate Winslet (Rose), the couple received critical acclaim for their on-screen chemistry.

One of the genius minds behind the camera was the producer Jon Landauwho died of cancer in July 2024, aged 63.

But soon, something new will arrive in bookstores: The Bigger Picturehis posthumous memoir, released by the publisher Hyperion Avenue — still with no release date scheduled in Brazil. After receiving the diagnosis, the filmmaker made the decision to tell the public several behind-the-scenes stories from the filming of Titanicwhich, according to him, almost derailed the box office success.

At first, he comments that the film seemed more like “a money pit” than a guaranteed success: one crisis after another occurred, and the team feared that the project would “sink under its own ambition”. By the end of production, the film’s costs were so far over budget that Peter Cherninhead of Twentieth Century Foxsent minions to the set to manage activities. According to the author, the film was even at risk of being canceled due to the studio’s concerns.

The importance of creative vision in Titanic

Landau worked closely with James Camerondirector of the romantic drama. He oversaw the construction of the replica ship in Mexico, managed the budget (far beyond initial limits), and fought to maintain the film’s creative vision despite pressure from the studio, which wanted to remove some scenes. “The studio doesn’t always understand the value of a scene,” he wrote Landau.

One example, in particular, was striking for the producer: the scene in which Jack teaches Rose spitting over the side of the ship, as the friendship between the two begins to develop. Executives wanted the scene cut because it was considered unnecessary.

According to a 1997 interview, even the actors expressed distaste: “Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t like recording. Kate Winslet didn’t like the spit scene when we all sat down to read it for the first time,” he commented Cameron. “The president of my production company begged me to take it down. She hated it. My co-producer didn’t like it. The people at Fox didn’t like it.”

To Landaudespite being small, the scene was very important for the preparation of a later moment in the film. Had it not been for his efforts to save her, she might have, in fact, been lost. Read an excerpt from the book below:

“We were ordered by Fox and Paramount to cut this scene, but it becomes important later when Rose uses her new ability to spit in her fiancé’s face. When you analyze things on paper, looking only at numbers — number of pages or budgets — it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Emotional ties. The subtle moments that connect characters and scenes. The threads that intertwine to form the core of the story.”

The Bigger Picture It is now available for pre-order and will arrive in US bookstores in November, but there is no release date in Brazil yet.

• james cameron

• Jon Landau

• Kate Winslet

• Leonardo Dicaprio

• Titanic