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NEED TO KNOW
- Producer Jon Landau recounts his experiences making Titanic in his posthumous memoir, The Bigger Picture, out Nov. 4 from Hyperion Avenue
- The Oscar-winner reveals that he saved a seemingly unnecessary scene with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet from getting cut by the studio
- Landau, who was a longtime collaborator of James Cameron’s, died of cancer in July 2024 at 63 years old
When it comes to the modern movie era, Titanic has one of the most talked about productions of recent times. And in his posthumous memoir, The Bigger Picture, Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau is reflecting on some of the many stories that nearly derailed the blockbuster both on and off set. The producer died in July 2024 at the age of 63.
Released in theaters on Dec. 19, 1997, the romantic drama directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet went on to become a massive box office hit while collecting numerous accolades, including 11 Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director, among other categories.
However, as Landau remembers in his book, which he chose to write following his cancer diagnosis, the movie looked more “like a money pit” than it did a guaranteed success when he and longtime collaborator Cameron, now 71, first started working on it together. In fact, one crisis after another led many to think that the project would sink under its own ambition.
From figuring out how to salvage the climatic scene when the cruiseliner takes its final plunge into the Atlantic Ocean to figuring out who allegedly spiked the cast and crew’s dinner with PCP, Landau navigated a lot of hurdles — often playing a crucial, yet behind-the-scenes role in saving the movie.
20th Century Studios and Paramount Pictures
One such example came “late in production,” when the costs of making the movie “were so far over budget” that Peter Chernin, the head of Twentieth Century Fox, sent lackeys to the set to help manage things on the ground. At the time, the movie was in danger of getting shut down amid a growing number of concerns and notes from the studio.
Some of the feedback included concern over a scene involving DiCaprio and Winslet’s characters, Jack and Rose, spitting off the side of the ship as the two’s friendship begins to unfold. Execs wanted scene cut because, as Landau put it, “the studio doesn’t always understand the value of a scene” — and in this case, the important part this seemingly small moment played in setting up a pivotal one later.
While Landau fought for it, the scene did have a few detractors beyond the studio. According to a December 1997 interview with Cameron, both DiCaprio and Winslet initially had aversions to it early on. “Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t like it. Kate Winslet didn’t like the spitting scene when we all sat around reading it the first time,” the director recalled, noting that “the president of my company begged me to take it out. She hated it. My co-producer didn’t like it. The people at Fox didn’t like the scene.”
It seems like the only ones who appreciated it at the time were Cameron and Landau, who ultimately saved the scene from getting cut — which was also vindicated by Chernin when he finally saw footage from the film. “These are some of the best dailies I’ve ever seen,” the producer recalls the studio head telling him, while also slamming all of those who trash-talked Titanic before ever seeing a single “minute of film.”
Read an exclusive excerpt from The Bigger Picture in which Landau recounts saving the scene below.
Penguin Random House
Another crisis came late in production. Because we were so far over budget, Peter Chernin decided to again send someone to the set, this time someone Jim could not just blow off. This was my old friend Bill Mechanic, who’d risen through the ranks to become the chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment. The studio believed the movie was coming in too long — close to four hours of screen time. Bill was supposed to swoop in and suggest scenes that the studio thought could be cut from the script. If you ask Bill, he’ll tell you it was a sensible list. If you ask Jim, he’ll say it was three single-lined pages of absurd cuts, half of which we’d already shot. Jim refused to even engage. He said, “That is not the movie I envisioned.” Jim shut down the shoot and went back to his rented apartment.
This was in the middle of a scene.
Bill found Rae and me, and said, “That did not go well.”
I asked what had happened.
“Jim ordered everything shut down and went home.”
Bill was heading back to LA and said he’d call in the morning. The first thing we did after he left was to get assistant director Josh McLaglen on the walkie-talkie and tell him to keep working. No way we were shutting down. Rae and I went over to Jim’s place together. He was enraged. We talked. He vented. But we got him back to the set. There was not another mention or consideration of the studio’s notes. We would finish the film on our own terms.
The studio doesn’t always understand the value of a scene if it’s not driving toward something specific, and obviously so. A great example is the scene in Titanic when Jack teaches Rose how to spit. We got notes from both Fox and Paramount to cut that scene, but it becomes important later when Rose uses her new skill to spit in her fiancé’s face. When you parse things out on paper, looking only at numbers — page count or budgets — it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. The emotional ties. The subtle moments that connect characters and scenes. The threads that weave together to form the heart of the story.
Relief came in the form of a call from Peter Chernin. He said, “Jon, I’m really annoyed. You know how upset we are about the course — and cost — of the production. Well, I just saw your dailies, and goddamnit, they are some of the best dailies I’ve ever seen.”
As I said, relief. But also, vindication. Most of the people who were bad-mouthing Titanic had not seen so much as a minute of film. They had no notion of Jim’s accomplishments.
Copyright: The Bigger Picture. Copyright © 2026 by Jon Landau. All rights reserved.
The Bigger Picture from Hyperion Avenue will hit shelves on Nov. 4, 2025 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
