#Celine dion titanic pictures movie#
One of the paintings shown in the movie is Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" ( shown here), which depicts five prostitutes in a brothel. This is an obvious point of humor in the movie, but it also raises the question as to whether or not these paintings were in fact part of Titanic history. Cal (Billy Zane) comments that the artist will never amount to anything. After Rose (Kate Winslet) boards the ship in the movie, we see her displaying authentic paintings by the then barely-known painter, Pablo Picasso. Were any of Pablo Picasso's paintings lost with the Titanic? As a result, a few of the underwater shots had to be faked. Each dive lasted approximately fifteen hours, but the cameras could only store 500 feet of film, which meant that only twelve minutes of footage could be shot per dive. Special cameras and housings were designed to withstand the 6,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. He made a total of twelve dives to film the underwater close-ups at a depth of 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. In 1995, James Cameron hired the Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles. Most of the underwater shots of the Titanic wreckage are real. And it continues to be the rare hit that will be forever associated with a film that matches it in popularity.Yes. Still, that didn't stop Dion from bringing down the house with her recent 20th anniversary performance of the song at the Billboard Music Awards in May. The Atlantic noted that it has been voted the most irritating song in history by the BBC, and Maxim wrote, "The second most tragic event ever to result from that fabled ocean liner continues to torment humanity years later." Over the years, as with anything extremely popular, there was plenty of "My Heart Will Go On" backlash, particularly as it became overplayed. The Washington Post called it a tune that “starts off with Enya-like tenderness and Celtic melancholy before colliding with the iceberg of overproduction.” News publications at the time marveled at the song’s sales, even as they also poked fun at the cheesiness factor. "When she hits the high note in 'Near, far, wherever you are' - bam! The floodgates open." "The most stoic and stalwart pillars of the industry. "Titanic" star Billy Zane told Billboard about the weepy scene when the song played at the movie's premiere.
Dion also wasn't thrilled about recording yet another movie song - especially when she already had so many, from "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991 to "Because You Loved Me" in 1996, which was on the "Up Close and Personal" soundtrack.īut after it was released, everyone was taken aback at the impact. Except "Titanic" director James Cameron was reluctant to have a ballad roll over the end credits.
“I don’t know we’ve seen much like it since.”Īccording to Billboard magazine's oral history of "My Heart Will Go On," the studio hoped to incorporate a hit song into the film for marketing purposes. “I think it was a combination of the perfect artist in Céline - who sings it so powerfully, and her popularity was at a great peak anyway - and then the movie being on fire,” he said. He remembers the phone lines blowing up with moviegoers requesting the song. When the song came out in 1997, Ivey was the program director at Kiss 108 in Boston, a Top 40 station. “It was one of those records that just wouldn’t die,” said John Ivey, president of contemporary hits radio programming strategy for iHeartMedia. The ballad, written by Will Jennings and James Horner, also won record of the year and song of the year at the 1999 Grammy Awards, in addition to best original song at the Oscars.
With all the mockery (even Kate Winslet has said that hearing the song makes her feel like throwing up), it's easy to overlook the iconic track's unbelievably massive success.įirst, the numbers: The single sold 1.7 million copies on its own and propelled Dion’s “Let’s Talk About Love” and the “Titanic: Music From the Motion Picture” soundtrack to each sell tens of millions of albums worldwide. The ubiquitous power ballad, better known as the "Titanic" theme song, has become a bit of a pop culture punchline since the record-shattering film's release 20 years ago. "Įven though some people (ahem) will happily admit to the second choice, it's understandable that others can't bear to hear the Céline Dion hit even one more time. (b) Crank up the volume and grab a fake microphone, because it's your time to shine: "Near. (a) Scramble to change the station, turn down the volume or throw yourself out of the vehicle, because you would rather be a passenger on a doomed cruise ship than hear that gentle flute again. The opening notes of “My Heart Will Go On” start to play. You’re in the car, listening to the radio.