New behind-the-scenes photos of the 1997 blockbuster smash “Titanic” have been released — and they look like they were taken 84 years ago.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet — just 21 and 20, respectively, at the time — boarded the fictional S.O.S. Titanic as production kicked off in summer 1996. The James Cameron-directed drama was filmed primarily at Fox Baja Studios, now known as Baja Studios.
The cast and crew worked at the resort town of Rosarito in Baja California, Mexico, where a life-size exterior set of the RMS Titanic, which reportedly cost a whopping $40 million, was created.
In the throwback photos, DiCaprio and Winslet can be seen walking around set in their Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater attire. In one photo, DiCaprio sports black sunglasses as the production team is taking direction from Cameron.
Another amusing snapshot shows DiCaprio and Winslet bundled up in their coat and life vest while sitting on set, seemingly about to film the Titanic’s more dramatic sinking scenes. The British actress even seems to get some shut eye amid the busy work schedule.
Other clean-shaven DiCaprio photos include him walking around in Jack’s slacks and suspenders, and mingling with co-star Danny Nucci, who played Fabrizio.
In one stunning scene, Winslet is dressed in Rose’s black and white striped suit and purple hat as she films the scene boarding the ship with co-stars Frances Fisher (Ruth Dewitt Bukater), Billy Zane (Cal Hockley) and David Warner (Spicer Lovejoy).
The resurfaced photos were acquired several years ago by a British collector.
“They are fabulous photos. They provide a unique, behind the scenes view of the production of the biggest grossing movie of the 20th century,” auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said. “What is great about these photos is that they were clearly taken by a member of the crew using their own camera. They aren’t professional, PR shots, they are candid, amateur snaps.”
The real ship sank in the early morning hours in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, killing 1,517 passengers. The crew suffered the most, with 700 casualties, due to the weather conditions and an iceberg collision overnight.
There are no survivors of the Titanic alive today. Elizabeth Gladys ‘Millvina’ Dean, the longest-living person to survive the wreckage, died at age 97 in 2009.
Cameron’s ambitious vision paid off, as “Titanic” became the highest-grossing movie of all time, surpassing “Jurassic Park.” It would be 12 years later until Cameron’s 2009 “Avatar” beat his own record. (That was eventually beat by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019.)
Additionally, “Titanic” won 11 out of 14 nominations at the Academy Awards in 1998, including Best Picture.
DiCaprio and Winslet both went on to win their own acting Oscars — DiCaprio for “The Revenant” in 2016 and Winslet years prior for 2009’s “The Reader.”
The pair became the best of friends following the beloved film, which ran a head-spinning (for that industry time, at least) three hours and 15 minutes — even being broken up into two VHS tapes.
“Titanic was very much an experiment for Kate Winslet and I. We’d done all of these independent movies. I loved her as an actress and she said, ‘Let’s do this together, we can do this,’” DiCaprio told Deadline in 2016. “We did it, and it became something that we could’ve never foreseen.”
“People said, ‘Do you realize how big of a movie this is?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s big. It’s a big movie.’ They’re like, ‘No. No. No, it’s the biggest movie ever,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, what does that mean?’” he added. “I knew there was an expectation of me to do a certain thing at that point, and I knew I had to get back to what my intentions were from the onset.”
Winslet went on to reflect on the film’s 25th anniversary in 2022.
“I’m 47 years old now, guys, and I turned 21 when we were shooting that movie. So, it’s like half my lifetime ago,” she said on “Good Morning America.”
“It’s amazing and incredible to have been part of something that, you know, [is] so steeped in nostalgia for people and still resonates with people in the way that it does,” she continued. “It’s a huge, huge honor that people still love something that I was a part of all those years ago.”
More recently, DiCaprio, was prodded about the movie’s infamous door scene when Jack was unable to fit alongside Rose in the frigid waters — despite there being plenty of room. In a 2020 MTV interview, he was asked if he thought Jack could have shared it.
“No comment,” he said with a laugh.
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