Titanic's James Cameron reveals the sneaky (and cheap) trick he used to make the set look even bigger as the studio panicked over its sky-high budget

James Cameron talks about the improvisations he had to make to stay within budget while making Titanic, the 1997 film that racked up record box office totals and won eleven Academy Awards.

The 69 year old filmmaker chatted with the Los Angeles Times this week about innovations he came up with to keep costs down, amid the release of a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and limited-edition box set of the iconic film.

The Oscar-winning director said he had to take special measures because the budget of the upcoming record-setting film – starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet – soared to its highest level ever at the time, sending the studio into panic. and his team continued to work.

“We never panicked,” says the native of Ontario, Canada. 'The studio panicked. Our job is not to panic.”

Cameron told the paper: “We only cast short extras so our set looked bigger. Anyone over six feet tall, we didn't cast them. It's like we got an extra million dollars of value out of the casting.”

The Oscar-winning director had to take special measures when the budget of the upcoming record-breaking film soared to its highest level ever, with an expenditure of $200 million; still from Titanic

The film was a collaboration between Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures; Cameron said studio execs had tried to cut one of the film's most essential scenes in an effort to save dollars.

“If the studio had had their way, they would have sunk the whole ship,” Cameron said. 'The smartest thing we did was to sink last.

“It wasn't because of the strategy, it was simply because you sink the set last, otherwise it won't look as good the next morning when you pick it up again.”

According to Box Office Mojothe film had a budget of $200 million. (It would gross $600 million at the domestic box office and $1.84 billion worldwide upon its release in December 1997.)

Cameron explained to the newspaper how the budget for the film was increased by the need to build huge and complicated sets, in addition to a replica of the ill-fated ship that was full size and 240 meters long.

He said that with today's technology, he could make the film with a smaller set, which would incorporate the use of CGI that was not available in the late 1990s.

Cameron acknowledged that some technical errors had been made during the construction of the sets, as “the scale of everything was beyond anything we could have imagined from our previous experiences.”

“It was hundreds of miles of cabling, all the Musco lights in Hollywood at the time.”

Cameron told the paper: “We only cast short extras so our set looked bigger. Anyone over six feet tall, we didn't cast them. It's like we got an extra million dollars of value out of the casting'; seen in 1997

The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, would gross $600 million at the domestic box office and $1.84 billion worldwide upon its release in December 1997.

“If the studio had had their way, they would have sunk the whole ship,” Cameron said; still from Titanic

Cameron added: “At the time we thought, wow, this movie can never make its money back.” It's just impossible. Well, guess what?'

Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau said in one case that while filming the movie, filmmakers “compromised the three degrees and … saved $750,000” by sinking a set that would be at a three-degree angle tilted.

Cameron opened up about the enduring popularity of the film, which also starred Billy Zane, Kathy Bates and Frances Fisher, as well as the late Gloria Stuart and Bill Paxton.

“I think there's someone who has set a goal of seeing the movie 10,000 times,” Cameron said. 'It's a long movie, so I don't know. Maybe he won't live long enough to do that.'

Landau recalled how Titanic filmmakers “lent the Heart of the Ocean to Adele for her birthday” when she turned 30 in 2018, referring to the necklace that left Stuart's character in the ocean at the end of the film.

At Adele's birthday party, Landau said, organizers built “a big staircase” and incorporated “all these things” from the film.

According to the paper, Cameron took “about a week out of his busy Avatar franchise schedule” to oversee production of the 4K remastering.

Cameron said: “At the time we thought, wow, this movie can never make its money back.” It's just impossible. Well, guess what?'; still from Titanic

Titanic won eleven Oscars at the 1998 Academy Awards, including Best Director for Cameron

Cameron's new release included his National Geographic special Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron, in which he tackled the topic of whether DiCaprio's Jack character could have survived on a floating door; still from Titanic

Cameron's new release included his National Geographic special Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron, in which he tackled the topic of whether DiCaprio's Jack character could have survived on a floating door.

Cameron researched the subject with scientists and stunt performers in a hypothermia laboratory in New Zealand.

Cameron said he was “sick of people harping on the scenario year after year,” adding: “The funny thing is people are still arguing about this 25 years later.”

The prolific director is about to release five more of his films in the updated 4K format: Aliens, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Abyss and True Lies, the outlet said.