What Are “Titanic” Cast Doing Now and 10 Facts About the Movie

It has been 25 years since James Cameron’s film, featuring an unforgettable Titanic cast, hit the theaters and became one of the most successful and iconic movies of all time. The film, which tells the tragic love story of Jack and Rose on board the doomed ship, won 11 Oscars and grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. Here is a look at where some of the cast members are now and 10 intriguing details about the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson)

Leonardo DiCaprio, a key member of the Titanic cast, was already a rising star before he played the charming artist Jack Dawson, but Titanic catapulted him to superstardom and made him one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. He has since starred in many critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, such as Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Great Gatsby, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

He finally won his first Oscar in 2016 for his role in The Revenant, after being nominated five times before. He also reunited with his Titanic co-star Kate Winslet in 2009’s Revolutionary Road, and the two remain close friends to this day. DiCaprio is also known for his environmental activism and philanthropy, and has produced several documentaries on climate change and wildlife conservation.

Kate Winslet (Rose DeWitt Bukater)

Kate Winslet was only 20 years old when she played the rebellious and passionate Rose DeWitt Bukater, who falls in love with Jack and defies her family and fiancé. Winslet has since become one of the most respected and versatile actresses in the industry, winning an Oscar in 2008 for The Reader, and earning six other nominations for films such as Sense and Sensibility, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Children, Steve Jobs, and most recently, Mare of Easttown.

She has also starred in blockbuster franchises such as Divergent and Avatar, and has worked with directors such as Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson, and Woody Allen. Winslet is married to businessman Edward Abel Smith, and has three children.

Billy Zane (Caledon Hockley)

Billy Zane played the villainous Caledon Hockley, Rose’s arrogant fiancé, who tries to stop her from being with Jack. Zane has continued to act in various films and TV shows, such as The Phantom, Zoolander, The Scorpion King 3, Twin Peaks, and Curfew. He has also ventured into producing, directing, and voice acting, lending his voice to video games and animated shows such as Kingdom Hearts and Justice League. Zane was married to actress Lisa Collins from 1989 to 1995, and has two children with his former fiancée, model Candice Neil.

Frances Fisher (Ruth DeWitt Bukater)

Frances Fisher played Rose’s mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, who pressures her daughter to marry Cal for their financial security. Fisher has appeared in many films and TV shows since Titanic, such as Gone in 60 Seconds, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Host, Resurrection, and Watchmen.

She has also been active in theater, performing in plays like The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and Desire Under the Elms. She is also an activist and a board member of the Environmental Media Association. Fisher was in a relationship with Clint Eastwood from 1990 to 1995, and they have a daughter, actress Francesca Eastwood, who is also an actress.

Kathy Bates (Molly Brown)

Kathy Bates played the real-life passenger Molly Brown, who was nicknamed “the unsinkable” for her survival of the Titanic disaster. Bates is an Oscar-winning actress who has starred in many films and TV shows, such as Misery, Fried Green Tomatoes, Dolores Claiborne, Primary Colors, About Schmidt, The Blind Side, American Horror Story, and The Highwaymen. She has also directed several episodes of TV shows, such as Six Feet Under, Harry’s Law, and The Office.

Bates is a breast cancer survivor, who underwent a double mastectomy in 2012. She is also an advocate for lymphedema awareness, a condition that causes swelling in the limbs, which she suffers from as a result of her cancer treatment. There is no reliable information available about Kathy Bates’ current relationships. However, it is believed that she is single and has had a falling out with her ex-husband, Tony Campisi, whom she married in 1991.

Gloria Stuart (Old Rose)

Gloria Stuart passed away in 2010 at the age of 100, after a long and illustrious career in film, theater, and art. She was the oldest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar, for her role in Titanic. She also wrote an autobiography, titled I Just Kept Hoping, which was published in 1999. She was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a centennial celebration in 2010.

Victor Garber (Thomas Andrews)

Victor Garber is still active as an actor and singer, appearing in films, television, and theater. He has been nominated for four Tony Awards, six Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Some of his recent projects include the films Argo, Sicario, Dark Waters, and Happiest Season, and the TV shows Alias, Frasier, Will & Grace, and Legends of Tomorrow. He is also an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and married his partner Rainer Andreesen in 2015.

Bill Paxton (Brock Lovett)

Bill Paxton, a memorable member of the Titanic cast, was an American actor and filmmaker who played Brock Lovett, a treasure hunter who is searching for the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond in the wreck of the Titanic and becomes fascinated by Rose’s story. Bill Paxton died in 2017 from complications following heart surgery, at the age of 61.

He was an acclaimed actor and filmmaker, who starred in films such as Aliens, Near Dark, Tombstone, True Lies, Apollo 13, Twister, and A Simple Plan. He also received an Emmy nomination for his role in the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble cast of Argo. He was also a musician, who formed a new wave band called “Martini Ranch” in the 1980s. He is survived by his wife Louise Newbury and his two children, James and Lydia.

Fun facts about the movie Titanic

There are many things you may not know about this epic romance and disaster film, featuring the unforgettable Titanic cast. Here are some fun facts that will make you see Titanic in a different light.

• The most iconic line was improvised: When Leonardo DiCaprio first got up on the end of the ship, he improvised the line “I’m the king of the world!” Director James Cameron liked the line so much that he kept it in the movie. Though the line would go on to be parodied countless times, it landed at #100 on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movie quotes.
• No acting Oscars were won: Although Titanic won 11 Oscars, none of them were for acting. The only actor who was nominated was 87-year-old Gloria Stuart (Old Rose), who lost to Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential. Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Actress but lost to Helen Hunt for As Good as It Gets. It took Winslet another five nominations before she brought home a statue (for The Reader in 2009).
• Kate Winslet learned she got the part while wearing a straitjacket: The day Winslet learned she had landed her star-making role, she was in England filming Hamlet with Kenneth Branagh. After getting off the phone with her agent, she then went to work, which meant wearing a straitjacket to film Ophelia’s famous breakdown scene.
• A drawing of a naked Kate Winslet sold for thousands: One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when Jack draws Rose, who is wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean necklace. The drawing was done by Cameron, not DiCaprio. In 2011, a company called Premiere Props auctioned off one of the movie’s most iconic pieces of memorabilia: the drawing itself. Although the identity of the buyer and the final price were not released publicly, the highest known bid was $16,000.

• The freezing water wasn’t cold at all: Cameron admitted that the seven-month shoot was pretty intense, but he insists that the soggy scenes weren’t as tough on the actors as they might seem on screen. According to him, the water in the tank was like a cozy 80-degree pool, and all that dramatic cold breath you see was just added in post-production. As for those rumors about Cameron’s stars being stuck in the water tank for hours without bathroom breaks, he just brushed it off with a laugh, saying “Everyone could go to the toilet, but they were encouraged not to go in the tank — which I think was happening!”
• Leonardo DiCaprio almost passed on the role: According to director James Cameron, DiCaprio was initially reluctant to audition for the part, and had to be persuaded by the filmmaker. Cameron pointed out that in his audition, DiCaprio, “charmed everybody, myself included.” Nevertheless, when he arranged a chemistry read for the actor with his future co-star Winslet, Cameron remembers feeling uncertain.
  “He said, ‘You mean I’m reading?’” Cameron said. “And I said yeah, he said, ‘Oh, I don’t read’. I said, ‘Well,’ I shook his hand, I said, ‘Thanks for coming by.’ And he said, ‘Wait, you mean if I don’t read, I don’t get the part? Just like that?’” “I said, ‘Oh yeah, come on, this is like a giant movie that’s going to take two years of my life, and you’ll be gone doing five other things while I’m doing post-production and all the model work and everything, so I’m not gonna ruin it up by making the wrong decision in casting, so you’re gonna read, or you’re not gonna get the part,’” Cameron remembered that DiCaprio did read, although the director observed a sulky demeanor.
  “He comes in and like every ounce of his entire being is just so negative, right up until I said action, and then he turned into Jack and Kate just lit up, and they went into this whole thing and played the scene,” Cameron shared. “Dark clouds had opened up and a ray of sun came down and lit up Jack. I’m like, alright, he’s the guy.”
• Kate Winslet hated her performance: Winslet revealed that she hated her American accent and her acting in the film. “I’m like, ‘Really, really? You did it like that? Oh my God.’ My American accent, I can’t listen to it. It’s awful,” she said. She also felt mocked by the media and the public for her physique, which did not fit the conventional standards of beauty. Winslet said that she had a hard time watching the film and wished she could do it again with the skills she had gained over the years.

• Kate Winslet shared a shaving mishap that occurred during the shoot. In the scene where Rose is on the verge of jumping ship, Winslet explained, “There’s a bit where Leo takes my hand, and because of the way Jim was lighting this particular shot, the light was catching all the little hairs on my arm.” Winslet continued, “He was like, ’Okay, we’re going to have to shave your arm.’ So we stop filming, and the makeup artist has a Bic razor and some Gillette shaving foam. It was hilarious. That I really remember.”
• Actors play a famous real couple in a small cameo: Ida and Isidor Straus were a well-known German-American couple who founded Macy’s department store. They were on the Titanic and died together on the ship. They get a brief, unidentified cameo in the film as the elderly couple lying in bed together as the water washes over them.
  Their love story is as touching as Jack’s and Rose’s. They were married for 40 years and witnesses say that they were allowed on a lifeboat because of their age, but Isidor refused to get in before every woman and child left the ship. His wife decided to stay with her husband, and they were last seen on the boat deck sitting on a pair of deck chairs holding hands until they both perished.
• Jack didn’t have to die: One question that has plagued Cameron since Titanic came out is: Did Jack really have to die? In an episode of MythBusters that examined whether both Jack and Rose could have stayed on the wooden beam without it sinking, Cameron himself came on the show to admit that the movie’s dramatic ending depended on Jack dying. “Things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons,” quipped Cameron.
  In 2016, Cameron was still being grilled about it. Though he repeated that the decision to kill Jack was “an artistic choice,” he also defended the scene by saying that he had tested the floating board prop itself to gauge its buoyancy.

Experience the joyous exploration of 20 minor mistakes in the legendary movie that true fans have spotted. Delight in a behind-the-scenes peek at the amusing slip-ups, providing a unique perspective on the beloved Titanic cast that even the most dedicated admirers might have missed.