Kate Winslet was the perfect actress for Rose in James Cameron’s Titanic movie, but did you know she almost did not get the part? Not only her but Jack was almost played by another actor, which means fans almost had another pair of lovers on board.
This mind-blowing information is, indeed, a shock to the system, after the 1997 film established Winslet’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s careers in Hollywood. But, just like any other movie project, directors usually have a line-up of potential stars in mind. If Winslet did not join the film, then who almost got the coveted role?
Kate Winslet Almost Did Not Play Rose In Titanic
In a video interview with GQ, director James Cameron revealed he initially did not want Kate Winslet for the female lead because she was already getting typecast roles:
“I actually didn’t see Kate at first. She had done a couple of other historical dramas as well, and she was getting a reputation as Corset Kate, doing historical stuff, and so I thought, ‘Oh man, this is gonna look like the laziest casting in the world. All right, I’ll meet her, sure.’”
The filmmaker admitted wanting another actress, but upon meeting the Labor Day star, he eventually welcomed her in the project:
“But I was thinking maybe Gwyneth Paltrow or somebody else. And I met Kate, and she was fantastic, and so that happened fairly early on, we found Kate.”
Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow gave an interview with Howard Stern via US Weekly and discussed turning down the offer for Titanic:
“My mother [Blythe Danner] will kill me that I’m talking about turning down movie roles. She says it’s not ladylike.”
The actress seemingly avoids the subject, but the host insisted that she address it. Paltrow said that she could not do anything about the past, but she also believes that the choices she made also brought her some of the best projects. She mentioned movies like Sliding Doors (1998), A Perfect Murder (1998), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Shakespeare in Love (1999), where she won an Oscar for Best Actress.
“I know that the story is that I turned it down. I think I was really in contention for it — I was one of the last two. I look back at the choices I’ve made and think, ‘Why the hell did I say yes to that? And no to that?’ And you know, you look at the big picture and think: There’s a universal lesson here. What good is it to hold onto roles?”
With that reflection, Paltrow seems contented with the fact that she did not get to play Rose in Cameron’s Titanic. As she did not explicitly share her reason, it was a fateful circumstance that fans got Kate Winslet for the lead role.
Kate Winslet Persuaded James Cameron To Cast Her In Titanic
Kate Winslet wanted the role so bad she did everything to convince Cameron to get her on the team. Even with her impressive screen test, the filmmaker had reservations. In a 1997 article from EW, it was reported that Winslet gave Cameron a rose with a card signed ‘From Your Rose’:
“‘You don’t understand!’ she [Winslet] pleaded one day when she reached him by mobile phone in his Humvee. ‘I am Rose! I don’t know why you’re even seeing anyone else!’ Her enthusiasm eventually won him over.”
Even Cameron said in his interview how “fragile” the movie is because no one can imagine Titanic without Kate Winslet or Leonardo DiCaprio. It is indeed perplexing to the mind to discover that it almost did not give fans the iconic pair that defined the true romance of star-crossed lovers.
Titanic is available on Netflix.
