When a film goes into production, the teams behind the camera don't necessarily have a confirmed image of the final article in their heads. Sure, there's a script. But often, the actors will film different versions of scenes, hedge bets with different beginnings and endings, and even improvise, with their unscripted reactions ending up in the finished article. This is even the case with Titanic, one of the highest grossing films of all time. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, it is an undoubtable classic of the romance genre. But a key moment at its denouement could have looked very different, as shown by a deleted, alternative ending.
Cast your mind back to the original. Rose and Jack are freezing in the water. Jack succumbs to the cold, leaving Rose to paddle for survival and, finally, make it to America. She offers a false name - 'Dawson. Rose Dawson' - and discovers the priceless Heart of the Ocean gem in her coat pocket. This revelation gives the audience - not the other characters - a moment of realisation, that the underwater hunt has been for nothing. The blue diamond was with Rose all along. In the original ending Rose - now an old woman - decides to return it to the sea, standing alone in an emotional moment that seems to show her lifelong love for the late Jack. It's as if she is paying tribute to him, offering a final goodbye before she returns to bed to dream of him on the staircase once more. Is it a dream? Or does she pass away in her sleep and meet him in the great beyond? That's another article. But either way, this wasn't the only option filmed by director James Cameron. Take a look:
So, in this version, Rose is far from alone. Discovered with the necklace by the crew led by treasure hunter Brock Lovett (played by the late Bill Paxton) she is begged not to let go. Their mission - and years of toil - would be for nothing if she throws the diamond away. But she explains that life is not about such missions. It is about people, love and experiences. She allows him one touch, and drops it in, to a varied reaction. Some realise that she is right.
Viewers online have said the clip 'cursed my day'. 'This is cheesy AF', another added. 'We are all the bearded guy in this scenario', said another.
The moment is not subtle, is it? It spells out too explicitly what we are presumably supposed to surmise about Rose's journey ourselves. But one positive is that it does seem to confirm a prevailing sense in the finished film that Brock and Lizzy, Rose's granddaughter played by James Cameron's now-wife Suzy Amis Cameron, had a romantic connection. Overall though, it's just a tad too cheesy. We're not surprised that they went with the eventual, more solitary and personal choice.
Despite our dislike of this alternate ending, it's always interesting to consider the tough choices that have to be made in a film of this magnitude, and sheer length. We've previously laughed at a deleted scene featuring Kathy Bates ordering ice with her drink, and we pondered what could have been when watching Kate Winslet's screen test with another possible Jack, actor Jeremy Sisto.
But when it comes down to it, we like Titanic just as it is. Even if, just occasionally, we wonder if poor Jack really did have to die. We'll never let go, Jack...
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