This Titanic Scene Was Literally Too Much for Kate Winslet: "I Wish I Wasn't Here"
She very nearly went the same way as the famous ship!
Titanic was an epic movie that remains a firm favourite a quarter of a century after its first release. Ask most moviegoers which scene Kate Winslet most wished she hadn't been in, and they'd probably guess it was the 'Paint me like one of your French girls' moment. But they'd be wrong.
In fact, the scene that almost made the actor quit came from a very different moment in the film. It was a dramatic moment in the movie when Jack and Rose ran through the corridors of the ship, desperately trying to escape the rising waters, only to find themselves trapped by a wrought-iron gate that prevented them from making their way to the upper deck.
Something had gone wrong
While it was frightening for the characters, it was even more frightening for the actors. Winslet decided not to wear a wetsuit for the scene, sticking instead with her baggy coat.
Why not? What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot as it turned out. Because for the sake of her art, Winslet went through a near-death experience that left her with injuries and pneumonia.
When her coat got caught on the gate, she suddenly found herself stuck underwater and struggling to breathe.
'I had to sort of shimmy out of the coat to get free,' she told the LA Times, adding, 'I was thinking, 'I wish I wasn't here.'
Too much cold water
It's perfectly understandable that such an incident would have made her question her decision to take part in the movie. But let's be honest, the one thing everybody involved knew before they even stepped on the[i]set was that there was going to be a lot of water involved in the making of this film.
But it turned out there was even more water involved than anyone had predicted. The production team originally thought they would need 40 gallons of the stuff. But that was woefully inadequate. In fact, they needed about three times that amount.
To make matters worse, the entire scene had to be shot in one take because of the destructive effect it had on the interior of the ship. Trying to rebuild the set for subsequent takes would have been a step too far. So it was all or nothing in the one and only take.
To be fair, for Kate Winslet, it was very nearly all and nothing.
Source: LA Times.