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 rumors painted a grim picture, with many expecting Titanic to flop. Landau (via THR) writes that, especially when the movie was in postproduction, “the press continued to hound,” noting that “reporters would infiltrate and ingratiate in search of scoops. Rumors spiraled. Articles reported we’d spent $200 million. Others speculated we’d spent even more. They compared Titanic, still months away from release, to Ishtar, Waterworld, and Cleopatra, the most notorious flops in Hollywood history.”

Internally, Paramount executives were also worried that audiences wouldn’t embrace a sweeping historical romance mixed with disaster elements. It was in this pressure cooker environment that Titanic’s promotional strategy became a sticking point with the studio. 

Rather than go with a conventional teaser, Cameron and Landau wanted to push out a riskier promo, one that would show audiences the epic nature of what they could expect from Titanic. This involved creating a trailer that was over four minutes long and prioritized characters and conflicts over fast-cut action beats. 

In conflict, the studio cobbled together its own teaser for the movie, which Landau and co. called “the John Woo trailer”, adding, “It was all flash cuts and pounding music, gunshots, and screams. It made the movie look like an action flick that happened to take place on the Titanic.”

Landau recalls (via Variety) that at first they tried reasoning with Paramount over the trailer disagreement, then “screaming” at them, until the studio’s CEO, Sherry Lansing, nixed the decision from her distribution department and allowed Titanic’s longer trailer to be shown at ShoWest that year. Landau remembers sitting at the Paramount table with “some of their top executives and biggest names”, which included none other than Kurt Russell, who was the star of the studio’s forthcoming action thriller, Breakdown.

According to Landau, he was nervous as the trailer played to its banquet hall audience. “Just as it ended, Kurt Russell loudly announced, ‘I’d pay ten dollars just to see that trailer again.’ With that, we got a special dispensation from the Motion Picture Association — trailers were supposed to be 150 seconds, max — to release a four-minute-and-two-second trailer to audiences around the world.”

“From that day on,” he writes, “every negative article about the film ended with the sentiment that the movie might actually be good. It was a real turning point.”

Once again, Kurt saved the day. It’s all in the reflexes.

The Bigger Picture by Jon Landau will be published on November 4.