Cameron didn't invent the Titanic tragedy — Roy Ward Baker did, in the 1958 docudrama A Night to Remember. Cameron studied Baker's film obsessively, using it as the historical benchmark and visual template for every death scene, every angle of the ship, every moment of ordinary people recognizing their mortality. The 1912 disaster had already been sculpted into cinema. Cameron respected that sculpture enough to learn from it before rebuilding it. A Night to Remember is streaming on MUBI.
David Lean was the ultimate influence on me because of his sense of scale, his characterization within scale, and his dramatic structure in films like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and Ryan's Daughter.
David Lean's sense of scale, his characterization within scale, and his dramatic structure in films like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and Ryan's Daughter were the ultimate influence on me.
— David Lean · The Hollywood Reporter: 'James Cameron on 'Titanic 3D' Influences and 'Avatar 2''
Films That Influenced Titanic
