THE TITANIC: ANOTHER DISASTER MOVIE?
The biggest gamble in movie making history has received no fewer than fourteen Oscar nominations. And not only that: contrary to what almost everyone said during the troubled course of its production, it looks like the gamble is going to pay off. Titanic, James Cameron´s $200 million epic has been a great success across Europe and America. Daily Variety, the most influential film newspaper in America, has no doubts. They call it a spectacular demonstration of what modern technology can contribute to dramatic story-telling, and concludes that, unlike the liner which sank in the North Atlantic eighty-five years ago, this Titanic arrives at its destination.
But it hasn´t been all that easy. Shot over eight months (about two months longer than originally planned), Titanic saw its budget spiral almost out of control. With such lavish sets, huge casts and expensive, state-of-the-art computerized special effects, the movie seemed set to become as big a disaster as the story on which it was based.
The perfectionist James Cameron went to extraordinary lengths to get his film exactly right. The filmmakers built a perfect scale model of the ship, which at 236 metres was almost as big as the original, and mounted it on giant hydraulic lifts to reproduce the effect of the vessel sinking. The model stood in a tank filled with 77million litres of sea water.
Everything in Cameron´s movie is bigger and more expensive than anything that has been done before.
Answer the following questions:
1. Read each definition below and choose the word from the list that matches the definition.
Gamble, success, budget, vessel
a. A large ship or boat:
b. Extravagant, excessive:
c. The cost or estimated cost of something:
d. A favourable, satisfactory result or accomplishment:
2. Answer the following questions according to the text.
a. What does the Daily Variety mean with Athis Titanic arrives at its destination?
b. How long did it take to shoot the Titanic?
c. Why is Cameron being described as a perfectionist?
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