100 years ago today, the Titanic made history as the unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic. And ever since that fateful day, people–and Hollywood–have been fascinated by this tragic event. Just 29 days after the sinking, a silent film was released called Saved From the Titanic starring actress Dorothy Gibson, who actually survived the incident. That was just the beginning of countless film and television movies have been made since about the tragedy (including the latest that aired last night and tonight on ABC from Downton Abby's Julian Fellowes. The first season of Downton even begins with the event.) But, the most poplar telling of the story, by far, is James Cameron's 1997 film that won 11 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and became the highest grossing film of all-time (it has since been replaced by another Cameron film, Avatar).
I saw the film the day that it opened on December 19, 1997. Thanks to her performances in Sense and Sensibility and Heavenly Creatures, I was a huge Kate Winslet fan already and told my friends that we had to see her latest performance in Titanic as soon as possible. I was in High School at the time and the film definitely had a huge impact on me. I lost count how many times I saw it in the theatre (it's somewhere around 12) and I don't even know how many times I've seen it in total. I haven't seen the theatrical release in 3-D that just came out, yet. But, I plan on it. Even though over the past 15 years it has become fashionable to bash the film (I'll admit, the dialogue isn't the best, but it's a lot better than Avatar's), it still has a hold on me as a film lover.
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| "Just pretend you're listening to James and then, when he's not looking, run..." |
Are you ready to go back to Titanic?
