It was as if the stars aligned to make "Titanic" James Cameron one of the biggest hits in the history of film when it first came out in 1997: Leonardo DiCaprio ... Kate Winslet ... a ship destined ... one of the most compelling tragedies of the last century.
Yes, the stars aligned. With the exception of those true-those films showcased in the sky above Winslet as she clung to debris, frozen after the ship sank on April 15, 1912.
Now, as Cameron releases a new version of the film in 3-d, he reveals that he has moved heaven and Earth--or at least the heavens-so what time are accurate.
This shift, he grudgingly (or laughing) Thanks Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and scientific popularizer, who heads the Center Rose for the Earth and space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
' Titanic ' Cast Reunites for Premiere Watch 3D Video
James Cameron Dives in the Mariana Trench Watch Video
James Cameron's "Titanic" returns in 3-d Watch Video
"When I saw the movie I said, ' this guy is all wrong, '" said Tyson, laughing, when we spoke with him. "I'm not usually a stickler for detail-I think it's better to give artists free-range-except that part of the sales pitch for the film was that Cameron had gone to such lengths to make movie accurate.
"He had gone diving to the wreck, he had obtained the right to China, the right lingerie, costumes, right wall sconces. We can go back and check those things? No, but we can verify where they'd been the stars. "
Cameron's epic just showed random dots in the sky, added as an effect after Winslet near-death was filmed.Tyson wrote a letter. No answer.
Years passed, and the two men wound up having dinner together. Tyson, perhaps with the help of a glass of good wine, made his case again.
"I said, ' Jim '-before, it would have been ' Mr Cameron '-' Jim, here my problem is not that the sky was wrong was that you got everything else right, '" he said.
Apparently Cameron shrugged a little: "last I checked," Titanic "worldwide it grossed 1.3 billion. Imagine how much more he cashed if I heaven correct, "Tyson CITES him as saying.
And on it went. But finally, with Cameron updating movie, challenged Tyson to send data to the stars right.
Cameron has put out a widely-cited explanation: "Neil deGrasse Tyson sent me a nice email saying that snarky, at this time of year in that position in the Atlantic in 1912, when Rose is lying on the piece of wood and staring at the stars, which is not the star she would see.
"And with my reputation as a perfectionist, I should know that I have to put the star in his field".
Tyson chuckles.
"Surely he thought of me as some Chihuahua nipping at the ankles," he says now. But as regards the reference to the "snarky", says Tyson, "I take that as a sign of affection, directed to me by a perfectionist."
No comments:
Post a Comment