In 1997, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio got his career-defining break with James Cameron’s Titanic. Having initially grossed over $1.8 billion globally, multiple re-releases brought it to a total of $2.2 billion, per Collider. While the movie was a creative masterpiece, it also had some genius business hacks that saved the studios millions of dollars. Budgeted at $200 million, the movie starred DiCaprio for only $2.5 million.
However, the actor was smart enough to cut out a backend deal that more than doubled his gross income from Titanic. The massive budget at that time didn’t worry Cameron, but he used his ingenuity to cut out expenses from varied angles. The director filtered his cast with a distinct characteristic that added to the studios’ savings.
James Cameron’s saved $1 million with a trick
For anyone who has seen Titanic, the disaster romance was masterfully portrayed with its realistic destruction and sinking depiction. Naturally, the expenses that might have gone behind these scenes pop up. At a time when technology was just on the rise, filming such a movie was a tall order.
Titanic’s ballooning budget worried the 20th Century Fox officials. Peter Chernin, CEO of News Corp., recalled it as the worst of times, contemplating if his kids could ever go to college after financing ‘the most expensive movie in Hollywood history’ at that time, per LA Times.
Among the myriad of reasons that caused the budget inflation, Cameron tried to tone it down by casting only short people. James Cameron told the Los Angeles Times recently,
“We only cast short extras so it made our set look bigger. Anybody above 5’8”, we didn’t cast them. It’s like we got an extra million dollars of value out of casting.”
Leonardo DiCaprio was 6’0, probably the tallest among other extras. Petrified by the budget, the crew wondered if Titanic could ever make the money back. After its release in December 1997, the movie became the highest-grossing film of all time. On the other hand, the 49-year-old actor negotiated a 1.8% cut from the movie’s total earnings, apart from his $2.5 million salary, which sized up his earnings to $40 million, per Parade Magazine. Interestingly, Kate Winslet wasn’t interested in bagging herself such a deal despite earning $500,000 less than DiCaprio.
James Cameron canceled an entire set
As the holiday season approaches, Titanic was made available in 4K home video discs for fans, which Cameron personally took the effort to remaster. A limited edition 4K Blu-Ray two-disc set hit the stores for its 25th anniversary this month. Thus, unveiling several intriguing episodes from its filming, Cameron disclosed that a whole set was scrapped to control the film’s budget. Producer Jon Landau said,
“We compromised the three degrees and we saved $750,000.”
A set to be designed at a three-degree angle to depict the sinking was canceled, and the filming continued with only two sets: one leveled, and the other tilted at a six-degree angle. Besides that, Cameron also strategized to shoot the sinking scene last to save money as well as time to rebuild it for other scenes.
Titanic was a true wonder on-screen, and well, a nightmare to film. Regardless, it put Cameron and his actors on the map. Years later, Cameron broke his own record for the highest-grossing film with 2009’s Avatar. A directorial genius precisely describes Cameron’s abilities.
