OVERLAY REPORT

Several iconic moments in *Titanic* (1997) were not in James Cameron’s original script. While Cameron is known for his meticulous attention to detail, he encouraged the actors to embrace their characters' instincts, leading to some of the film's most famous scenes. ### 1. "I’m the King of the World!" Perhaps the most famous line in the movie was made up on the spot. While filming the scene where Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) stands on the bow of the ship, the crew was losing daylight and had tried several scripted lines that didn't quite capture the "euphoria" Cameron wanted. * **The Detail:** Cameron shouted the line to DiCaprio through a walkie-talkie from a crane basket. DiCaprio was initially skeptical, reportedly asking "What?" in confusion. Cameron told him to "just f***ing sell it," and the take they used became one of the most recognizable quotes in cinema history. ### 2. Rose Spitting in Cal’s Face In the film's third act, as the ship is sinking and Cal (Billy Zane) tries to force Rose into a lifeboat, she breaks free by spitting directly in his face. * **The Detail:** The original script called for Rose to poke Cal with a hairpin. However, Kate Winslet suggested that spitting would be more humiliating and a better "callback" to the scene where Jack taught her how to "spit like a man." Crucially, Winslet did **not** tell Billy Zane she was going to do it, so his look of genuine shock and disgust in the film is real. ### 3. Cal Flipping the Breakfast Table During the scene where Cal confronts Rose about her "associating" with Jack, he becomes physically aggressive and flips a table full of tea and china. * **The Detail:** Billy Zane improvised the intensity of this "tantrum," including the table flip. Like the spitting scene, this was a surprise to his co-star; Kate Winslet’s reaction of jumping back and looking genuinely frightened was unscripted. ### 4. The "Bed / Couch" Slip-up During the famous drawing scene, Jack gives Rose instructions on how to pose. * **The Detail:** The line was supposed to be "Over on the couch." However, a nervous Leonardo DiCaprio accidentally said, "Over on the bed... I mean, the couch." James Cameron found the slip-up so endearing and fitting for Jack’s nervous character in that moment that he kept the mistake in the final cut. ### 5. "This is where we first met." As the ship is nearly vertical and Jack and Rose are clinging to the stern railing, Rose looks at him and says, "Jack, this is where we first met." * **The Detail:** Kate Winslet came up with this line during filming. She felt it was a poignant way to bring their story full circle as they faced what they thought was their certain death in the exact spot where Jack had saved her life earlier. ### 6. The Spitting Lesson The lighthearted scene where Jack teaches Rose how to spit off the side of the ship was largely improvised by DiCaprio and Winslet. * **The Detail:** While the concept of Jack showing Rose a "rougher" side of life was in the script, the specific dialogue and the organic way they interacted during the "lesson" were developed by the actors on the day of filming to build their characters' chemistry. ### 7. Jack's Ice Fishing Story When Jack is trying to talk Rose down from the back of the ship, he tells a story about falling into freezing water while ice fishing in Wissota, describing it as being "stabbed with a thousand knives all over your body." * **The Detail:** While the story was in the script, the specific "thousand knives" description was actually an ad-libbed quote taken from an actual survivor of the *Titanic* sinking, which DiCaprio incorporated into his dialogue.