'Titanic' Had An Unlikely Savior In Kurt Russell

'Titanic' nearly flopped until a surprising gamble saved the movie from sinking

"Everyone was tense," recalled Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau. "We’d spent five years and $200 million. At times, it seemed like the whole world was rooting for us to fail."CBS via Getty Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Titanic' (1997)Believe it or not, Titanic's success was an uphill battle.Before James Cameron's Oscar-winning disaster film shattered box office records, became a worldwide phenomenon, and turned Leonardo DiCaprio into a…

'Titanic' Had An Unlikely Savior In Kurt Russell

Our trailer was long. To us, it seemed proportionate to the length of the movie. And necessary. It was the first footage almost anyone outside the studio and production team had seen of “Titanic.” The...

When Hollywood Doubted Titanic, Kurt Russell Made Everyone Believe

The late Jon Landau’s memoir is set to be published next month, and excerpts from the book are already providing us with gems from the legendary producer’s life and career, including several fascinating recollections about making the blockbuster Titanic with its director, James Cameron. The success of the film upon its release in 1997 and beyond might make it seem like it was always a safe bet, but behind the scenes, studio executives and press …

Landau Reflects On Legendary "Titanic" Trailer

Last year, Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau passed away from cancer at the age of 63. Landau served as executive vice president of feature film production at 20th Century Fox in the early 1990s before leaving that post to work as James Cameron’s right-hand man and producing partner for decades – starting with 1997’s “Titanic”. Next month, a memoir he wrote titled “The Bigger Picture” will be published posthumously and now an excerpt has gone on…

Titanic’s 4:02 Long Trailer Saved the Movie, But It’s Not the Longest in Hollywood

James Cameron’s Titanic broke Hollywood and patched it up again, the best it could. The film was prophesied to be a box office dud, sink Cameron’s career to a point of no return, and simply be the worst example of creative freedom in Hollywood history. But a 4-minute-and-2-second trailer prevented all of it. At the time, a 4-minute-long trailer was unheard of, almost blasphemous to the Motion Picture Association’s sensibilities and stringent reg…