10 things you probably didn't know about 'Titanic'

• James Cameron's "Titanic" premiered in 1997, becoming one of the highest-grossing films ever.
• The movie cost about $200 million, and most of the ship's decor was historically accurate. 
• Cameron spent more time exploring the shipwreck than any Titanic passengers spent on board in 1912. 

Kate Winslet sent James Cameron a rose and a note after she landed the lead role.

Winslet was 19 when Cameron cast her as Rose DeWitt Bukate, the lead role. Before filming, the director said she sent him a rose with a note that said, "I'm ready."

After the film's release, Cameron reshot a scene so it would accurately depict the sky on the night the Titanic sank.

After the ship sinks in "Titanic," Rose floats on a door in the North Atlantic Ocean and stares at the sky, awaiting rescue.

However, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson pointed out that the sky in the movie doesn't look the way it did on the actual night the Titanic sank. In the early hours of April 15, 1912, there was no visible moon in the sky, and the stars looked different, according to Tyson.

So as Cameron prepared the film's relaunched 3D version (2012), he reshot the scene to accurately reflect the sky that night.

Cameron based the elderly couple lying in bed together as the Titanic sinks on real passengers.

Isidor Straus was a co-owner of Macy's and a former US Congress member. He has his wife, Ida, were passengers on the Titanic's 1912 maiden voyage. They both died during the disaster.

Actors Lew Palter and Elsa Raven portrayed the Straus couple in the film, appearing as two elderly people clutching each other in bed as the vessel sinks. In a deleted scene, the couple decides to stay on board and go down with the ship.

The director drew the nude sketch of Rose himself.

Cameron was behind the iconic sketch that Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) draws of Rose in the Heart of the Ocean necklace. Winslet said she was wearing a bathing suit when she posed for it during a segment on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." 

Someone bought the original prop sketch at an auction in 2011. The final selling price wasn't unreleased, but the highest bid was $16,000.

Cameron spent more time exploring the Titanic wreck than any of the ship's passengers.

Cameron has descended to the shipwreck, about 13,000 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean over 30 times, according to National Geographic.

As a result, the director actually spent more time exploring the ship than any of the actual passengers, including the ship's captain, Edward Smith.

The film cost about $200 million to make, which breaks down to over $1 million for each minute of screen time.

The final cut of "Titanic" is 195 minutes long, meaning that each minute of the film cost over $1 million to make. The investment paid off, as "Titanic" became the first movie to gross $1 billion.

Most of the ship's decor was historically accurate.

Cameron used a remotely operated vehicle with a camera on it to capture footage inside the shipwreck to understand what it looked like.

The director insisted on using prop elements such as real wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, and silverware with logos from White Star Line, the company that designed and decorated the real Titanic.

The actors ate real Beluga caviar while filming the dining-room scenes.

No expense was spared to make the dining-room scenes as authentic as possible.

According to a Vanity Fair interview with Brett Baker, one of DiCaprio's body doubles for "Titanic," the actors ate real Beluga caviar, which costs about $4,000 a pound.

DiCaprio reportedly brought his pet lizard, Blizzard, to the "Titanic" set.

Baker told Vanity Fair that the famous actor was often seen around the film's set in the company of his pet lizard, Blizzard.  

During shooting, someone reportedly spiked the cast and crew's chowder with PCP, a drug known for its mind-altering effects.

According to Vice the "Titanic" cast and crew ate a big batch of clam chowder that was reportedly spiked with PCP, or phencyclidine, a drug known for its mind-altering effects, during the final few days of the film's shooting schedule in Nova Scotia.

Those affected went to Dartmouth General Hospital for treatment, but no one suffered any long-term effects. Over 25 years later, no one knows who spiked the clam chowder. 

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