A scene in the movie Titanic from (1998) was regretted by director James Cameron even years later.
The movie Titanic is based on true events but is supplemented with fictional elements. However, the star director regretted one artistic deviation from reality afterwards:
The fate of one person was entirely fictional – James Cameron later criticized that he had not handled it sensitively enough, as he mentioned in an interview.
Here you can see a trailer for Titanic:
“Made him an interesting character”
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, there was a documentary about Titanic. In it, James Cameron was asked if, after all these years, there was one thing he would want to change in his film. The director affirmed this. In hindsight, he would have liked to portray one character differently.
Which character is it? It is about the First Officer William McMaster Murdoch and his end in the movie Titanic.
James Cameron explained:
I took the liberty of showing how [Murdoch] shoots someone and then shoots himself […] We don’t know if he did this, but the storyteller in me says: ‘Oh’. I start connecting the dots.
James Cameron via YouTube
In this YouTube video, you can hear for yourself what James Cameron said about Murdoch. Jump to 42:30 for that:
The director further explained that it made sense to him that the officer would act this way, as he had to carry such a great responsibility, which made him an interesting character for storytelling:
“He was on duty, he carried this whole weight with him, that made him an interesting character.”
You can read more about Titanic here with our colleagues from Filmstarts: Over $700,000 for a piece of wood! The most discussed prop from “Titanic” was sold for a record sum
James Cameron apologized for having included the scene in the film. Especially towards the descendants of Murdoch, it was simply tactless:
“I did not think about being a historian, and I don’t think I was sensitive enough to realize that his family, his survivors, could be offended by this, and they were.”
What James Cameron did not regret, however, is the fact that Jack did not save himself along with Rose on the door. To finally clarify whether the tragic couple in Titanic could have survived together, he had a study conducted. What came out of it can be read here on MeinMMO: A study finally clarifies whether Rose and Jack could have fit on that damn door together in Titanic
