1 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Everybody quite offset I've heard. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 2: It's the night of August eighth, nineteen ninety six. A 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 2: crew in Halifax, Nova Scotia is working hard on the 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 2: last day of filming at this location. After weeks of 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 2: working overtime and several grueling night shoots, everyone could use 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 2: a break. Around midnight, the crew breaks for a meal. 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 2: It's a welcome respite from setting up cameras, positioning lights, 8 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 2: and capturing tedious takes of the same scene. It's a 9 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 2: chance to relax with colleagues and friends, if only briefly. 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 2: But here's what the crew doesn't know. Within thirty minutes, 11 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 2: all hell will be unleashed on set. It's an incident 12 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 2: no one could have predicted because it had never happened before, 13 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 2: or since it's the night the crew of James Cameron's 14 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 2: Titanic was drugged. Every on set department was affected that night, 15 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 2: from the grips and electricians to the set decorators and 16 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 2: camera operators, from the assistant directors to the actors, and yes, 17 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 2: even future Oscar winner James Cameron. As the chaos ensued 18 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 2: that night, the mystery of who drugged the crew was 19 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 2: ignited a multi year police investigation followed and one question 20 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 2: haunted everyone impacted that fateful evening. Why Welcome to Very 21 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 2: Special Episodes and iHeart original podcast. I'm your host, Dana Schwartz, 22 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 2: and this is Boat Trip, the attempted sinking of Titanic. 23 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 2: So I feel like, because this is our first episode 24 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 2: of the show, we should throw in just like a 25 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 2: little background info on like who we are, why people 26 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 2: might know us. I'm Danish Schwartz, the person talking now. 27 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 2: I host a podcast called Noble Blood, but I also 28 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 2: have if my voice sounds familiar, also did the voice 29 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 2: on the podcast Hayleywood, which was about Bruce Willis sort 30 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 2: of buying up all the property in this tiny Idaho town. 31 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 2: And this podcast called Stealing Superman about Nicholas Cage's incredibly 32 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: expensive comic book collection that was stolen. So I guess 33 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,399 Speaker 2: this is a good entry point into Very Special Episodes 34 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 2: because my niche has become weird celebrity celebrity adjacent scandals. 35 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 3: Yes, cultural high points. Yeah. 36 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,239 Speaker 1: Now, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Zaren Burnette. 37 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: I have hosted Black Cowboys and currently I'm hosting Ridiculous 38 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: Crime with my partner Elizabeth Dutton and we do pretty 39 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: much stories like this, which is odd, weird cultural touchstone moments. 40 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 4: And I am Jason English. I've worked with you on 41 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:08,079 Speaker 4: some of those shows. And the idea behind very special 42 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 4: episodes is that we had so many ideas for podcasts 43 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 4: and just decided we're probably not going to get around 44 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 4: to making all these limited series, so let's just do 45 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 4: one episode a week. It's our movie of the week. 46 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 4: It's mister mcpheely coming over to mister Rogers and popping 47 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 4: something in the VCR and learning about the crayon factory 48 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 4: or I don't. 49 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 3: Think they ever did a PCP. 50 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 4: Episode on mister Rogers, but that's kind of what we're 51 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 4: hoping is we can earn earn a spot in your 52 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 4: weekly podcast listening routine, and we'll be back every every 53 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 4: week with a good, weird, fun, sometimes felonious store. 54 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 2: You know what I realized this podcast is, it's like 55 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 2: when you are at a cocktail party or like out 56 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 2: to dinner with like a group of your partner's friends 57 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 2: and you don't know what to talk about and you 58 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 2: just get to say I heard the craziest story on 59 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 2: a podcast. That is every single one of these episodes. 60 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 2: It is the fodder for you to say I heard 61 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 2: the craziest story on this podcast. 62 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: I love that because that's exactly what I do for 63 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: a living. And then now I'm going to do when 64 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: I'm just hanging out and be like, oh, I heard 65 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: the best story today. 66 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 2: Yeah. Basically, this show is called Very Special Episodes, but 67 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: I feel like it also could just be called I 68 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 2: heard it on this podcast. 69 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 3: I like it. I like it. 70 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 4: We'll get to some merch ideas later. But you know, 71 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 4: there's a lot of words for a mouse path. 72 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 2: But it's a little long, but you know, you say 73 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 2: it fast. 74 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, run through those syllables. 75 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 2: I also just wanted to say, Jason, We've known each 76 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 2: other for a very long time. I like cold emailed 77 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 2: you when I was in college as a freelance writer 78 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 2: for Mental Floss the magazine. And I was freelancing for 79 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 2: Mental Flaws and working at Mental Fluss right when I 80 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 2: graduated college, and now it's nearly ten years later and 81 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 2: we still get to work together. 82 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 4: When that email came in, I'll say two things about it. 83 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 4: One of them is a joke, but the earnest thing 84 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 4: is you sent pitches in and it was like this 85 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 4: person is playing a different sport than the rest of us. 86 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 4: These are so well thought out, and I mean we 87 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 4: got so much, so much inbound stuff, but these just 88 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 4: really stood out. 89 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 3: And and I. 90 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:23,799 Speaker 4: Remember talking to you at the end of the summer 91 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 4: and saying, like, whatever you're doing is working, and ten 92 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 4: years from now, I'm gonna pull you into doing this 93 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 4: random podcast with me and and look like the long 94 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 4: game it works. 95 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, it was absolutely correct. 96 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 3: Lived up to the promise. Zaren. 97 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,480 Speaker 4: We met because I called emailed you and said, I 98 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 4: love what you're doing for for mail? 99 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 3: Can we can we say mal? Do we not? Do 100 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 3: we not reference mail? How we can say? We can 101 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 3: totally say we can say rip? 102 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,799 Speaker 4: And said I'd just love to work with you on something, 103 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 4: and that became Black Cowboys, And we've worked on a 104 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 4: few things together since, and we've got some other side 105 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 4: projects going for later this year. 106 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: Normally I don't like cold things, but that was the 107 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: best cold email of my life. 108 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 2: I am so excited about this podcast because it is 109 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 2: a little known I would say, cultural milestone in nineties history, 110 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 2: like a major cultural moment my own like Zany slightly 111 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 2: zany personal connection to Titanic is I used to be 112 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,480 Speaker 2: a writer at Entertainment Weekly, and sometimes they send us 113 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 2: out on like weird press event meetings, and James Cameron 114 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 2: was doing this like science fiction anthology show which I 115 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 2: don't even remember, to be honest, but the result was 116 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 2: I and another colleague for me W got to go 117 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,799 Speaker 2: to drive over to like the west side of Los Angeles, 118 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 2: like I don't remember exactly where it was, but it 119 00:06:53,720 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 2: was a schlep to James Cameron's studio slash like garage museum, 120 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 2: and there were like fifteen of us like reporters and 121 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 2: like random people that James Cameron like personally took us through, 122 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 2: like all the props that he like kept in this 123 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 2: like it's like an airport, a small airport hangar where 124 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 2: he had the box crusher, the box lifter from from Aliens, 125 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 2: like the the mechsuit. He had all like these plaster 126 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 2: faces from Avatar that are all like the CGI. He 127 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 2: had the model of Titanic, like the smaller detailed scale 128 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 2: model that they filmed, and he had like the real 129 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 2: car he had, like the car, the car from Titanic. 130 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: Did you see Titanic? 131 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: No, the sex car hand on don glass car, yes, hand. 132 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 2: On glass Sex car. I was going through trying to 133 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 2: find photos because I know I took photos, but like, 134 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,559 Speaker 2: the really embarrassing thing is I was like dating someone 135 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 2: at the time that I went with, and I'm now 136 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 2: I'm like horrified that I deleted all the photos and 137 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 2: like a relationship purge, and I'm like, well, I wish 138 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 2: I kept them. 139 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 3: We gotta get back there. 140 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 2: I wish I kept though I know I gotta get 141 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 2: So hopefully he's listening to this, James Cameron, I'm sure 142 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 2: you're listening to this podcast. Invite me back to your hangar. 143 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 2: I won't bring a romantic partner ready to dive into 144 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 2: the cold waters of the North Atlantic. 145 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 3: Let's do it. 146 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 2: Before we dive into James Cameron's epic Titanic, let's anchor 147 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 2: ourselves with a quick history of the real RMS Titanic. 148 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 2: On April tenth, nineteen twelve, the Titanic set sail on 149 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 2: its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, en. 150 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 5: Route to New York. It was the grandest ship of 151 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 5: its time, designed to entice affluent passengers with it extravagance, 152 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 5: first class cabins, fine dining, and special amenities. The RMS 153 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 5: Titanic had a series of innovative safety features. The Titanic's 154 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 5: builder said the ship would stay afloat even if the 155 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 5: first four compared men's work, compromise, which made some people 156 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 5: call it unsinkable. 157 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 2: Just four days into the voyage, those people were proven wrong. 158 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 2: Titanic's starboard side collided with an iceberg, triggering an inundation 159 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 2: of water that sank the ship in just two hours 160 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 2: and forty minutes. There were roughly twenty two hundred people aboard. 161 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 2: Fifteen hundred died due to an insufficient number of lifeboats. 162 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 2: The colossal tragedy captivated the world in nineteen twelve and 163 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 2: has continued to fascinate people for over a century. One 164 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 2: such fascinated person James Cameron. Long before James Cameron even 165 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 2: dreamed of filmmaking, he was an artsy kid growing up 166 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 2: in Ontario, Canada. He was born in nineteen fifty four, 167 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 2: and although he grew up hundreds of miles from the sea, 168 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 2: James became enraptured with the ocean. 169 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 6: He was obsessed with the ocean, with Jacques Cousteau movies 170 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 6: and fascinated by the story of Titanic. 171 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 2: That's Rebecca Keegan, Senior Film editor at The Hollywood Reporter 172 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 2: and author of the James Cameron biography The Futurist. The 173 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 2: Life and Films of James Cameron. 174 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 6: There is in nineteen fifties scripted fictional telling of the 175 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,319 Speaker 6: story of Titanic that he saw when he was a 176 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 6: kid and made a huge impression on him, just in 177 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 6: terms of the drama and the loss and how scary 178 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 6: it must have been for the people who are on 179 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:37,439 Speaker 6: that ship. 180 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 2: James's love of water inspired him to earn his scuba 181 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 2: diving certification as a teenager at the local y. He 182 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 2: became fascinated with deep sea submersibles, which could carry people 183 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 2: to the depths of the ocean. James dreamed of exploring 184 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 2: what he thought of as Earth's outer space. The tantalizing 185 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 2: idea of exploring a shipwreck was a dream that would 186 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 2: eventually come true, but before any type of deep sea 187 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 2: exploration would be possible, James and his family moved to Brea, 188 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 2: California when he was around seventeen. When James Cameron started 189 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:24,079 Speaker 2: working in Hollywood, he wasn't a wildly successful director yet. 190 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 2: He was simply building models for low budget Roger Corman films. 191 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 2: That's where he met actor Bill Paxton. James hired Paxton 192 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 2: to help paint movie sets. While working for Roger Corman, 193 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,680 Speaker 2: James was offered the chance to take over as director 194 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 2: for Piranha II the spawning. The gig didn't last long, 195 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 2: and James doesn't like to include that in his filmography. 196 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 2: The first feature film directing credit, he claims, however, was 197 00:11:55,480 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 2: a movie he wrote about a cyborg assassin disguised as 198 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 2: a as a human. Thus began the building of Cameron's reputation. 199 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:10,679 Speaker 2: The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a small budget action 200 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 2: film with impressive special and practical effects that went on 201 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 2: to be a box office hit. Next was Aliens, the 202 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 2: sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien. Aliens had a budget of 203 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 2: eighteen million dollars. It went on to gross one hundred 204 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:36,319 Speaker 2: and thirty million dollars worldwide. For Cameron's next film, The Abyss, 205 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 2: he turned an unfinished nuclear power plant into a movie set. 206 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:48,199 Speaker 2: He used groundbreaking CGI technology to create the film's water tentacle. 207 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 6: Cameron's reputation was as a filmmaker who he did what 208 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 6: he said he was going to do, in the sense 209 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 6: that he would tell studios, yes, this is very very expensive. Yes, 210 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 6: this is very ambitious, but I promise you it's going 211 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 6: to work, and it did. He would make movies like 212 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 6: True Lies, which was very very expensive, Terminator two, which 213 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 6: had this like cutting edge technology in it. 214 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 2: The Abyss was the most expensive movie Cameron had made, 215 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 2: with a production budget of forty five million dollars. While 216 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,840 Speaker 2: it wasn't a box office juggernaut like The Terminator and Aliens, 217 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 2: it still earned ninety million dollars worldwide. 218 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 6: He would do new things and expensive things, and they 219 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 6: would pay off enormously. At the same time that he 220 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 6: had this reputation for really delivering both sort of commercially 221 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 6: and creatively, he was also known to be very exacting, 222 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 6: very demanding off his cast and crew. Part of that 223 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 6: was because he could do a lot of the jobs 224 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 6: on a crew himself. 225 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 2: After Terminator two and True Lies, Cameron set his sights 226 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 2: on a doomed life story. He pitched the film to 227 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 2: twentieth Century Fox as a new take on a Shakespearean classic. 228 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 2: It was Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic. But even 229 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 2: with his star power as a director, the studios were nervous. 230 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 6: This was not the kind of movie that the industry 231 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 6: wanted to make anymore. It's a giant, expensive period movie. 232 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 6: They wanted very specific things from James Cameron. They wanted action, 233 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 6: they wanted true lies and Terminator a thousand and you know, 234 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 6: things that he would be known for. So the idea 235 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 6: that he wanted to do to a period romance. Oh, that, 236 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 6: by the way, involved him personally going to the real 237 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 6: Titanic and shooting it like this was, I think understandably 238 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 6: to executives at box a little bit of a head scratcher. 239 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 6: But it speaks to his stature in the industry at 240 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 6: the time that he was able to talk them into 241 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 6: that and ultimately to get the movie made. 242 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 2: To get the green light, Cameron had to agree to 243 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 2: forego a portion of his earnings. While a box office 244 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 2: sensation would offset his reduced pay, such success was anything 245 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 2: but guaranteed. He also agreed to a PG thirteen rating 246 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 2: and a summer nineteen ninety seven release date, which was 247 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 2: only a year away. For a film that would need 248 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 2: a massive amount of special effects, practical effects, sound stages 249 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 2: that could be flooded, and a giant hunk of the 250 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 2: RMS Titanic, one year was ambitious, and that was without 251 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 2: a mass poisoning event. Principal photography for Titanic began in 252 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 2: July of nineteen ninety six. The first shooting location was 253 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 2: Hall of Nova, Scotia, where the modern day footage would 254 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 2: be filmed. The modern day story follows a team of 255 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 2: treasure hunters searching for a diamond necklace lost in the 256 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 2: wreckage of the Titanic. The lead treasure hunter is Brock Lovett, 257 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 2: played by James Cameron's dear friend Bill Paxton. To bring 258 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 2: the story to life, the production made use of the 259 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 2: resources Halifax had to offer, which were vastly different from 260 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 2: shooting in Los Angeles. While there weren't any famous Hollywood 261 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 2: sound stages in Halifax, there was a harbor that was 262 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 2: perfect for a film that takes place on the ocean. 263 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 7: In Halifax, you're sixteen to twenty minutes away from the 264 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 7: ocean in any direction. 265 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 2: That's Claude Russell, one of the on set dressers from 266 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 2: the Halifax crew. 267 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 7: The kel desh was in the harbor and where the 268 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 7: kel desh was stocked. There was a big, huge warehouse 269 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 7: for building parts on boats. They had sets of the 270 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,640 Speaker 7: interior of the labs on the boat and I think 271 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 7: the submarine too. They had models like an interior set 272 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 7: of that. 273 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 2: Although they were filming the interior set in a warehouse 274 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 2: instead of a sound stage. It was the normal setup 275 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 2: for the Halifax film community, a community that's much smaller 276 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 2: than sprawling Los Angeles. 277 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 7: The Halifax film crew, like the IA crew, were all 278 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 7: pretty tight. Everybody knows everybody there may be at times 279 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 7: enough to accommodate two to four productions. Maritimers just got 280 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 7: a great reputation as far as meeting people, like getting 281 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 7: along with people. You know, there's a lot of respect 282 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 7: there and camaraderie there for sure. 283 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 2: Word of James Cameron's notorious reputation made it all the 284 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 2: way to Halifax. 285 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 7: People from Elie that came here to were that were 286 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,959 Speaker 7: probably with them on other shows. We're saying, you know, 287 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 7: you gotta be careful. You got to watch yourself because 288 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 7: you won't put up with anything kind of thing. 289 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 2: Right from the get go, the shoot was grueling. Like 290 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 2: the Abyss, Filming a nautical movie presented challenges that a 291 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 2: land based film didn't face. They were filming on an 292 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 2: actual research vessel without an elevator. That meant the crew 293 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 2: had to manually haul the equipment up and down ladders 294 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 2: and staircases, a process that can be exhausting and time consuming. 295 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 7: The unique thing about it was we were going on 296 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 7: a boat, and so the boat would go about twenty 297 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,719 Speaker 7: five miles off the shore of the Coasta, Halifax. And 298 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 7: they were long days, fourteen fifteen hour days. I started 299 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 7: at my rate, but I had no turnaround in between 300 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 7: the days, and I ended up working triple overtime for 301 00:18:58,560 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 7: their whole show. 302 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,440 Speaker 2: Almost at the helm of the production was a director 303 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 2: who knew how to make the impossible possible. 304 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 7: Lots of people said he was hard on the crew, 305 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 7: but my experience was I felt like I was working 306 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 7: with somebody that knew exactly what they wanted. They knew 307 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 7: exactly what they were doing, and he wasn't afraid. Like 308 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 7: if I was moving at a table, all of a sudden, 309 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 7: he just stopped new zoom, and he'd got the other 310 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 7: end of the table with me, and he'd moved the 311 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 7: table over and make a quick comment and then back 312 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 7: to on his chair. But each swore a lot. We 313 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 7: went through a lot of focus pollers. One week, he 314 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 7: wasn't afraid to call people out and get rid of them. 315 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 2: One person who had been fired was a crew member 316 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 2: who clashed with the catering company on the second to 317 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 2: last day of shooting in Canada. Toward the end of 318 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 2: production in Halifax, the crew was working nights, arriving on 319 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 2: set around five pm I'm filming as the moon glowed, 320 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,360 Speaker 2: and leaving early in the morning at sunrise. The conditions 321 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 2: were so intense that for some crew members it was 322 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 2: hard to distinguish what they were seeing at the end 323 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 2: of each day was the sun rising or setting. After 324 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 2: weeks of NonStop work, August eighth, nineteen ninety six would 325 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 2: be their last night of filming. The crew arrived for 326 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 2: their final call time between five and six pm. The 327 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 2: shoot started like any other day, dressing the set, hair 328 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 2: and makeup for the actors, framing each shot, the usual 329 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 2: chaos that accompanies a movie set. At the meal break, 330 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 2: a catering company served seafood chowder. Depending on who you ask, 331 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,640 Speaker 2: you'll get a different answer of what was in the chowder, 332 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 2: either mussels, clams, lobster, or all of the above. 333 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 7: It was midnight, I think they called lunch. Hating was 334 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 7: outside in like a mobile unit. So we went up, 335 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 7: got what you wanted, and then we went inside that 336 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 7: warehouse where all the sets were, and there were tables out, 337 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 7: so it was like any other show break for lunch, 338 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 7: you have your hour lunch. It was shortly halfway through 339 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 7: just something wasn't right. At first, you thought it was 340 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 7: just yourself, but eve when you're talking to other people, 341 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,679 Speaker 7: you quickly realized, like, there's something going down here. 342 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 2: There was an undeniable buzz as more and more people 343 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 2: started to feel funny, and all of. 344 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 7: A sudden, the ED got up and said, Okay, there 345 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 7: seems to be an issue here. How many of you 346 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 7: guys are feeling this way? You guys, you on that way? 347 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 7: And so then he kind of started circtlly, you know, 348 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 7: I said, okay, good crew on the left, Bad crew 349 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 7: on the right. It was hilarious and we were all 350 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 7: kind of laughing, you know. It was kind of hilarious 351 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,159 Speaker 7: because this is never happened. I don't know if in 352 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 7: the history of productions, if anything's ever stopped like that. 353 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,160 Speaker 7: Immediately to address what was going down, we didn't proceed 354 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 7: with shooting. It was a concern. 355 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 2: Good crew meaning that no one was feeling strange in 356 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: any way. Bad crew consisted of everyone who couldn't figure 357 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 2: out why their sense of reality was shifting. While no 358 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 2: one knew what was happening, it became clear what differentiated 359 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 2: the good crew from the bad crew. The only people 360 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,199 Speaker 2: who were feeling strange were the people who had eaten 361 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,880 Speaker 2: the chowder. But knowing it was tied to the chowder 362 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 2: didn't actually solve the mystery of why everyone started to 363 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 2: feel weird. 364 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 7: We didn't know what it was. My thought was food poisoning, 365 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 7: because that seems to be common thing sometimes with seafood. 366 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 2: Claude had a good, plausible guess at what was happening, 367 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 2: so did James Cameron, who had also eaten the chowder. 368 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 2: He recounted his thoughts to Rebecca. 369 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,439 Speaker 6: They were lining up a shot, I think with a 370 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 6: stand in for Glorias Stuart, and she just keeled right over. 371 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:17,199 Speaker 2: Glorias Stewart was the actress playing one hundred year old Rose. 372 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 2: This is her stand in, keeling right over. 373 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,120 Speaker 6: The stand in just passed out, and then other people 374 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,160 Speaker 6: on the set started to get sick, including James Cameron. 375 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,880 Speaker 6: So as people are starting to get sick, Cameron realizes 376 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 6: what's happening and decides to run off to the bathroom 377 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,159 Speaker 6: and try and make himself throw up, thinking if I 378 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 6: could get this stuff out of my system fast enough, 379 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 6: at least I'll be okay and I'll be able to 380 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 6: sort of steer this crew. He didn't entirely succeed. He 381 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 6: comes back to set and his eyes are all bloodshot 382 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 6: from making himself puke, which of course freaked everybody out 383 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 6: and looked vaguely like a Terminator character, and they thought, 384 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,360 Speaker 6: oh my gosh, this is some kind of zombie virus. 385 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 6: What's wrong with a gem? We're all dying. 386 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 2: James immediately thought it was something called red tide, which 387 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 2: long story short, can make shellfish in affected areas dangerous 388 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 2: to eat. It was a good theory. However, the truth 389 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 2: was more sinister. No one knew it yet, but the 390 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 2: chowder had been laced with the drug fen cyclodine, better 391 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 2: known as PCP or angel dust. The more chowder a 392 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 2: person ate, the greater PCP side effects they endured, and 393 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:36,880 Speaker 2: it affected everyone differently. 394 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,360 Speaker 7: There was a range. People were kind of joking and laughing, 395 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 7: you know, teasing each other. I don't recall us realizing 396 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 7: that we were getting high, but we were definitely acting 397 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 7: like it because nobody knew what the hell was going down. 398 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,439 Speaker 7: I remember one person. I think she was continuity and 399 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 7: an ex hippie or still a hippie, but everybody was like, 400 00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 7: you know, how you doing. I guess she had maybe 401 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 7: her drug days, had a bad experience, since she was 402 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 7: like almost panicking, saying I don't know what's going on, 403 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 7: I don't like this, feeling kind of like she was 404 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:09,439 Speaker 7: skinning wordy. 405 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 2: Well, some people were enjoying the high, many others were terrified. 406 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 2: It's jarring enough to have your reality unintentionally distorted. For 407 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 2: someone who wasn't used to taking any kind of drug, 408 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 2: the experience was even more startling. Of all, the way 409 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,919 Speaker 2: is to get a group of eighty plus people stoned. 410 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:37,440 Speaker 2: PCP is an interesting choice. It started as an injectable 411 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 2: anesthetic in the nineteen fifties. It was originally used on 412 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 2: humans and later on animals, but was banned when its 413 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 2: side effects were determined to be too potent. Let us 414 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 2: run you through the potential side effects of an inadvertent 415 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 2: PCP dosing. 416 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,360 Speaker 8: Novous in the arms and legs. Nausea, vomiting and paranoia, 417 00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 8: maaker sweating, a racing harbeat, and increased blood pressure are 418 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 8: likely serious. Sie effects may include delirium, psychosis, associate of hallucinations, 419 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 8: feeling the attachment from the environment, and seizures. Filly doctor, 420 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 8: if you're exhibiting violent behavior or wish to do would make 421 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,120 Speaker 8: the dolcohol. PCP could result in resiratory depression, coma or death. 422 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 2: And on the set of Titanic, PCP caused a lot 423 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 2: of unsuspecting people to panic. The surprise drugging presented a 424 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 2: real challenge for the people on set who hadn't ingested PCP. 425 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:31,199 Speaker 2: The tight knit community of filmmakers was in extreme distress. 426 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 2: It was the people they'd known for years, working side 427 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 2: by side on multiple productions. They watched as their colleagues 428 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 2: and friends struggled. Even though some people enjoyed the buzz, 429 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 2: others were brought to tears, confused at what was happening 430 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:53,160 Speaker 2: to their bodies. Some were even physically ill and moaning. 431 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 2: Some people tried to work but were too confused to 432 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 2: do so, and others who initially made it into the 433 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 2: good crew category slowly realized they were part of the 434 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 2: bad crew. Through the madness, the crew handled the situation 435 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 2: like they would on a regular day of filming on 436 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,120 Speaker 2: set by working together. 437 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 7: Everybody was like you know how you doing. We were 438 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 7: all talking. We were all like wondering what was going 439 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 7: to be the next step, thinking maybe we have to 440 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 7: go to the hospital, you know, especially if like one 441 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,479 Speaker 7: hundred people needed to use the bathroom simultaneously. We need 442 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 7: to know what was clinta. 443 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 2: Someone called nine one one. Paramedics from the local Dartmouth 444 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 2: hospital arrived on the scene, along with the police. The 445 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 2: good news was that no one was in mortal jeopardy. 446 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 2: The bad news there wasn't much the paramedics could do. 447 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 7: I just remember us all getting organized and ned Satas said, Okay, 448 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,679 Speaker 7: we're going to go to the hospital. It was just 449 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 7: across the street, ironically, and so just organized to everybody 450 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 7: in a line. We were all like feeling a little 451 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 7: silly and stupid that, you know, we were all walking 452 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,640 Speaker 7: down the sidewalk and crossing the crosswalk and going into 453 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 7: the hospital and dating a hospital. 454 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,479 Speaker 2: The people who were unaffected and hadn't eaten the chowder 455 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 2: were instructed to stay on set until they were cleared 456 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 2: to go home. Without a definitive time they could leave, 457 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 2: they decided to kick back, relax and join in on 458 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 2: the fun sort of. One of the departments had a 459 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 2: bottle of vodka which they passed around. At the same time, 460 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 2: dozens of crew members high on PCP, descended on the 461 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 2: Dartmouth Hospital. 462 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 7: I recall a lot of beige walls, like an old hospital. 463 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 7: It's not a big hospital, the Dartmouth Hospital. So it 464 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 7: was like they are trying to find chairs for us 465 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 7: to sit down gripped, have found wheelchairs and were able 466 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 7: to do wheelies down the hallways, and it was just 467 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 7: so surreal at that point, I guess maybe we were peaking, 468 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 7: and I was like, Wow, this is just like so 469 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 7: cool in a bizarre way. 470 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 2: James Cameron recounted the scene to Rebecca. 471 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 6: So an enormous number of people are hitting this little, 472 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 6: tiny emergency room, and it just got weird. In the 473 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 6: emergency room waiting room. The cinematographer was like leading a 474 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 6: conga line. People were not acting the way you do 475 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 6: if you just have food poisoning. Something clearly weirder than 476 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 6: that was going on. 477 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 2: And Claude was enjoying the high. 478 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,120 Speaker 7: I just remember being stoned and having a good time 479 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 7: with my colleagues. It was just so surreal, you know, 480 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 7: like James Cameron, Bill Paxon, we're all going cross the streets, 481 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 7: sitting in a hallway in a hospital. It was crazy. 482 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 2: Yes, actor Bill Paxton had eaten the chowder as well. 483 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 2: At some point, Bill Paxton ditched the hospital. In an 484 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 2: interview with Larry King, he said he told James Cameron, Jim, 485 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 2: I'm not going to hang out here. This is bedlam. 486 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 2: I'm going to wander back down and drink a case 487 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 2: of beer. 488 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 6: At one point, Cameron told me he saw his I 489 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 6: think it was his first ad woman who was just 490 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 6: sort of really smart and on it and capable, and 491 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 6: she was kind of trying to direct traffic in the 492 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 6: midst of this emergency room. And she was also verly, 493 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 6: clearly altered and perhaps didn't notice it. And so Karen 494 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,480 Speaker 6: was talking to her on the walkie talkie as he's 495 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 6: sitting in the room with her, and at one point 496 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 6: he says to her, where are you And she says, 497 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 6: I'm taking care of people in the hospital, And he says, 498 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 6: you realize I'm sitting right here and you're talking to 499 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 6: me right here, And apparently she comes at him with 500 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 6: a pen and like stabs him in the face with 501 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 6: a pen. Again, this is beyond food poisoning. Something heavy 502 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 6: duty is happening. 503 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 2: Here when he wasn't getting stabbed in the face with 504 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 2: a pen, James Cameron was. 505 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 7: Riding the high I remember James kind of slouched back 506 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 7: a bit and chair and just smiling in the kind 507 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 7: of glaze smile and just looking up and down the 508 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 7: hallway and saying, wow, you know, something like this is 509 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 7: strange or I can't believe it. He was enjoying it, 510 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 7: but we didn't know what was going down. 511 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 2: Some people were sprawled out on gurney's wailing. The hospital 512 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 2: staff did its best to take care of everyone, so. 513 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 7: I remember nurses just kind of like kind of hurting 514 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 7: cats almost, or kind of like okay, you sit down, 515 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 7: or kind of like trying to calm us down. And 516 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 7: then eventually they gave us a little It looked like 517 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:49,840 Speaker 7: a yogurt drink bottle, but it was black. It was charcoal. 518 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 2: Liquid. Charcoal is used to treat overdoses and poisonings, among 519 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 2: other less dramatic things. The charcoal is supposed to bind 520 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 2: to anything that in a person's gut and help eliminate it. 521 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 2: It's an effective way to get rid of a great 522 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 2: many toxins, even if you don't know which toxin A 523 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,719 Speaker 2: person has taken, so who would be the metaphorical guinea 524 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 2: pig to drink the charcoal first. 525 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 6: The interesting thing, it sounds like Cameron remained Cameron in 526 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 6: the sense that he, like everybody else, was feeling some 527 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,000 Speaker 6: weird symptoms. He was clearly a little bit off, but 528 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,479 Speaker 6: he was still kind of leader to the crew in 529 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 6: that sense, and Cameron sort of led the crew and 530 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 6: the drinking of the charcoal drink to expunge whatever this 531 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 6: toxin was from their systems as quickly as possible. 532 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,120 Speaker 2: After everyone drank their dose of charcoal, there wasn't much 533 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,720 Speaker 2: else the hospital staff could do for the crew. Those 534 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 2: who could be were discharged and sent home, and everyone 535 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 2: who was still on set was cleared to leave as well. 536 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,720 Speaker 2: James Cameron stayed up late with Bill Paxton drinking beer, 537 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 2: reflecting on the bizarre night and expressing relief that nobody 538 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 2: got seriously hurt. 539 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 6: It was certainly scary and weird, but they just kind 540 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 6: of reflected back on this extraordinary movie, which had all 541 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 6: of these problems and delays and complexities and expenses. 542 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 2: There was one thing that would bring the cast and 543 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 2: crew back together very soon. The PCP incident had put 544 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 2: a wrench. In the final day of shooting in Halifax, 545 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 2: with only half of the shooting schedule completed, the crew 546 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 2: still needed to finish what they started. They were given 547 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 2: these standard time off, which was long enough for the 548 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 2: effects of PCP to wear off. The now sober cast 549 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 2: and crew returned in the evening for the final time. 550 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 2: The chaos of the event would inspire one crew member 551 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 2: to grab their guitar and sing a song about it. 552 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 7: I'm not picking on the grips, but I'm guessing it 553 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 7: was one of the. 554 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 2: Grips, and the absurdity of the situation would be commemorated 555 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 2: with a souvenir. 556 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 7: The person who hired me called me in Annie Fuller. 557 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 7: She's not around on anymore, but she was an icon. 558 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 7: She was really good at what she did. She kind 559 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,880 Speaker 7: of had a raspy smoker's voice, and she would do 560 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 7: like ten things at once and kind of chaotic straightaway. 561 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,560 Speaker 7: But everybody loved her here in Halifax worked with her 562 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 7: while all this was going down, So maybe it was 563 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 7: while we were in the hospital. I drew the sketch 564 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 7: of Bola chowder with a titanic kind of sinking down 565 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 7: into bola chowder and on the bottom. I put good crew, 566 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:49,520 Speaker 7: bad crew, and Annie just flipped out. She said, oh man, 567 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 7: I love that. She goes, could you fix that up? 568 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 7: She wanted me to find I want to get T 569 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 7: shirts made out of them, so like really, she goes, yeah, yeah, 570 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,920 Speaker 7: yeah yeah. She got them embroidered, not so drm embroidered, 571 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 7: which was a little higher in and she gave them 572 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 7: out to a local people. I guess that worked on 573 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 7: the show. I'm sure there's one exists. 574 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 2: Somewhere, thankfully. The final day of shooting was smooth sailing 575 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,439 Speaker 2: until James Cameron called out, that's a wrap on Halifax. 576 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,960 Speaker 2: But as the shoot ended, a new challenge emerged. The 577 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:29,799 Speaker 2: identity of the person who spiked the chowder was unknown. 578 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 2: The search for the person who poisoned the cast and 579 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 2: crew began, and on a set full of longtime friends 580 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:52,239 Speaker 2: and colleagues, the investigation hit uncomfortably close to home. The 581 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 2: poisoning of a film director and his cast and crew 582 00:35:56,239 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 2: sound like the plot of a movie. In reality, James 583 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 2: Cameron's on set nightmare that spurred an investigation. In the beginning, 584 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 2: no one knew what mind altering substance the cast and 585 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,800 Speaker 2: crew had consumed, along with their seafood chowder. John Landau, 586 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,360 Speaker 2: a producer on the film and James Cameron's business partner, 587 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 2: was the first to find out. 588 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 6: There was a toxicology report which was given to producer 589 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 6: John Landau, in which it was revealed that there was 590 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:27,440 Speaker 6: PCP in the chowder. 591 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,479 Speaker 2: According to Vulture, the toxicology report was from the Nova 592 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 2: Scotia Department of Health, who handed the investigation over to 593 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:40,239 Speaker 2: the Halifax Regional Police Service. At first glance, there was 594 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:44,960 Speaker 2: a long list of potential suspects, like anyone who was 595 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,720 Speaker 2: on set that night. Over eighty people had been drugged 596 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 2: and there were a bunch of others who hadn't been. 597 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 2: At least one hundred people were present when the PCP 598 00:36:55,400 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 2: chaos commenced. It happened to a close knit community of filmmakers. 599 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:05,160 Speaker 2: Could a longtime friend and colleague have gone rogue to 600 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 2: get everyone stoned? And if so, why was it a 601 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:14,240 Speaker 2: prank that went too far with someone harboring a grudge 602 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 2: against James Cameron? Could it have been an attempt to 603 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:23,360 Speaker 2: sabotage the final day of shooting or the production? Overall? 604 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 2: The question of how the culprit acquired PCP added another 605 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 2: layer of intrigue. They could have synthesized their own PCP, 606 00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 2: but they would have had to do it without catching 607 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 2: the attention of law enforcement. The ingredients to make PCP 608 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:43,800 Speaker 2: are highly monitored, so much so that if you purchase 609 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,360 Speaker 2: enough of the ingredients to get started, there's a strong 610 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 2: chance a police officer will knock on your door. But 611 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:56,280 Speaker 2: the Halifax Regional Police Service wasn't aware of someone working 612 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,319 Speaker 2: on the film who had purchased those ingredients, and the 613 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 2: police weren't aware of anyone from Titanic purchasing angel dust 614 00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:08,960 Speaker 2: from a dealer. Theories of who had done it swirled 615 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:09,879 Speaker 2: among the crew. 616 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 9: I heard one where one guy wanted to go to 617 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 9: Mexico because that's where they were going after Halifax, and 618 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:19,839 Speaker 9: the cater guy didn't want him, or didn't allow him 619 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,040 Speaker 9: or whatever, so he fired him and then I guess 620 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,439 Speaker 9: he got hired again the next day or something like that. 621 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,839 Speaker 6: One of the theories was that someone who had been 622 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 6: fired from the set as disgruntled crew member had spiked 623 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 6: the chowder sort of as revenge, maybe potentially to get 624 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 6: the catering crew in trouble. Some people thought it was 625 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 6: folks being angry at Cameron for his sort of intense 626 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 6: leadership style. But it's all just theories. 627 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,920 Speaker 2: The CEO of one of the catering companies in question 628 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:58,240 Speaker 2: told Entertainment Weekly that it was the Hollywood crowd bringing 629 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 2: in psychedelics and it was a quote party thing that 630 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 2: got carried away. James Cameron's future wife, actress Susie Amos, 631 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 2: didn't eat the chowder, which Cameron jokingly said made her 632 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 2: high on the suspect list. 633 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:19,160 Speaker 7: Just what everybody else was talking. Somebody got pissed off 634 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,279 Speaker 7: with I don't know if it was the crew or 635 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 7: the catering and so they just decided to sabotage the 636 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 7: guy who was the caterer. 637 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 2: Remember, the night before the PCP incident, a crew member 638 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,240 Speaker 2: who clashed with the caterer had been fired. The theory 639 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,400 Speaker 2: was that the now ex crew member was so upset 640 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:46,320 Speaker 2: they added PCP to the chowder to sabotage the catering company. 641 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:51,200 Speaker 2: The disgruntled crew member's plan worked, as the catering company 642 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,760 Speaker 2: was fired the next day. It's a theory that even 643 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,440 Speaker 2: James Cameron supported in an interview with Vanity Fair. Yet 644 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,319 Speaker 2: there was no no easy answer for the police, and 645 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:08,120 Speaker 2: their search continued despite the ongoing investigation, James Cameron had 646 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 2: a movie to complete. Regrettably, this wouldn't be the last 647 00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:21,280 Speaker 2: significant hurdle he'd face during production. After the Halifax shoot wrapped, 648 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 2: James Cameron headed to Rosarito, Mexico to film most of 649 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,880 Speaker 2: the flashback scenes of Jack and Rose on the Titanic. 650 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,080 Speaker 2: News of other mishaps and hurdles while filming became public 651 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:38,520 Speaker 2: knowledge through the media, like rumors of James Cameron's temper 652 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:43,000 Speaker 2: on set and the perils of underwater stunt work. Kate 653 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 2: Winslet told The Los Angeles Times about some of the 654 00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:50,400 Speaker 2: harsh conditions she endured, which included chipping a bone in 655 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:51,080 Speaker 2: her elbow. 656 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,920 Speaker 6: Kate has talked about this, She's wearing this sort of 657 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 6: flowing dress and a coat, and she's doing these underwater 658 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,279 Speaker 6: sequences where she's traveling through the ship and through all 659 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:05,520 Speaker 6: these little kind of tight spaces. If you ask Cameron 660 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 6: about it, he says that they were always very aware 661 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 6: of where she was and very focused on her safety, 662 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 6: and certainly all ended well, but from her perspective, it 663 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,879 Speaker 6: was quite scary when at one point she did get 664 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 6: caught on something with her costume, and I think the 665 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,240 Speaker 6: peril in some ways that you see on the faces 666 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 6: of the actors during the sinking scene, there's a way 667 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:30,839 Speaker 6: in which they were actually feeling that. I mean, they 668 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 6: were literally filling the set with water. That's not cig water. 669 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,880 Speaker 6: They're not sitting in a little swimming pool pretending with 670 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,359 Speaker 6: you know, CG ship behind them. It was a real 671 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,160 Speaker 6: ship that they'd built and they were filling it with water. 672 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,040 Speaker 6: And for the actors, you don't have to try too 673 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:49,000 Speaker 6: hard to seem terrified in that circumstance. 674 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 2: The media latched down to the narrative of how unhinged 675 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 2: James Cameron's set had become. In both Rosarto and Halifax. 676 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:03,719 Speaker 6: The PCP incident would have fed into a narrative at 677 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:07,400 Speaker 6: the time that this movie is just a hot mess 678 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,400 Speaker 6: and look at the crazy, ridiculous things that are happening 679 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:11,319 Speaker 6: on it. 680 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,840 Speaker 2: To make matters worse, Titanic was getting a bad press 681 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 2: for its record sized budget. The film's original budget was 682 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,920 Speaker 2: estimated to be eighty million dollars, which turned into one 683 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,319 Speaker 2: hundred and ten million when the reality of how much 684 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,440 Speaker 2: it would cost sank in. But the production was so 685 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:36,480 Speaker 2: complex that the shooting schedule took much longer than anticipated. 686 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:41,759 Speaker 2: James Cameron's period piece Love Story was turning into the 687 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,799 Speaker 2: most expensive movie ever made. 688 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,600 Speaker 6: He had to get his release date pushed, which studios 689 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 6: never liked to do, and with these big ideas he had, 690 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:56,239 Speaker 6: for instance, building the ship almost to scale in Mexico, 691 00:42:56,719 --> 00:43:00,680 Speaker 6: and all these little details like the china was the 692 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,040 Speaker 6: correct china that was used on Titanic, and even if 693 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,600 Speaker 6: you flipped over a plate in the dining room, it 694 00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:08,720 Speaker 6: said the right thing on the back of the plate 695 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:12,120 Speaker 6: that it would have said on Titanic. Now, normally movie 696 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 6: sets are not that detailed. You're not necessarily going to 697 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:18,520 Speaker 6: bring a camera in and flip over a piece of china. 698 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,839 Speaker 6: He wanted that level of verisimilitude for his actors and 699 00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:27,400 Speaker 6: to kind of put everyone in that historical moment. But 700 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 6: with that came enormous expenses. Famously, the movie was being 701 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:35,000 Speaker 6: tracked by a lot of the Hollywood trade press and 702 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 6: expected to be an enormous flop. Variety had a Titanic 703 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,759 Speaker 6: Watch column just kind of on a regular basis, sort 704 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 6: of mocking the challenges that the film was facing along 705 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,440 Speaker 6: the way. So the expectations were all that this is 706 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,360 Speaker 6: going to completely tank, no pun intended. People were not 707 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,640 Speaker 6: expecting good things from Titanic. 708 00:43:55,480 --> 00:44:00,000 Speaker 2: Despite the rabid negative media fodder, the two hundred million 709 00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:05,040 Speaker 2: dollar budget, the cascade of onset mishaps, and rumors of 710 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 2: James Cameron's intensity. When Titanic was released in theaters on 711 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:14,800 Speaker 2: December nineteenth, nineteen ninety seven, five months after its initial 712 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:19,319 Speaker 2: release date, the movie was more than a hit. Over 713 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:23,040 Speaker 2: the course of a few months, the most expensive movie 714 00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:27,400 Speaker 2: ever made, became the highest grossing film of all time 715 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:32,320 Speaker 2: and the first film to gross over one billion dollars. 716 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,440 Speaker 6: When Titanic opened, it exceeded anyone's expectations for the film. 717 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:44,399 Speaker 6: It was such a cultural phenomenon. Not only the many, 718 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 6: many Oscar nominations, the enormous box office receipts, but there 719 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,040 Speaker 6: were all these weird other sort of ripple effects, like 720 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:56,239 Speaker 6: cruises became more popular. There was a phenomenon of girls 721 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:58,759 Speaker 6: going to see the movie over and over again who 722 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,080 Speaker 6: were in love with Leonardo de kat and then having 723 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 6: crying parties. 724 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 7: At the time, it was just another big production, but 725 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,520 Speaker 7: the once it started to screen, in the popularity of it, 726 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:13,080 Speaker 7: it's like, wow, I was so part of that. I 727 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,719 Speaker 7: have all these great memories of different things that had 728 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 7: nothing to do with the poisoning, just the whole working 729 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,359 Speaker 7: on the show. I was very proud of working on 730 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:21,800 Speaker 7: that show. 731 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 2: At the nineteen ninety eight Academy Awards, Titanic earned a 732 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:31,920 Speaker 2: whopping fourteen Oscar nominations, tying the record for the most 733 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:37,320 Speaker 2: nominations beside All About Eve. It won in eleven categories, 734 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:42,320 Speaker 2: including a Best Picture and Best Director, tying Ben her 735 00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:47,440 Speaker 2: for the winningest film in cinema history. James Cameron gave 736 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:52,120 Speaker 2: a controversial acceptance speech while holding the Oscar for Best Director. 737 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 2: He quoted Jack saying I'm the king of the world. Well, 738 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:05,280 Speaker 2: Titanic reached unprecedented levels of success. The Halifax Regional Police 739 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 2: Service was still investigating the PCP incident. There were no 740 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:14,120 Speaker 2: major breakthroughs in the case. At the same time, the 741 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:16,800 Speaker 2: people who had been on set that night were moving 742 00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 2: on to new opportunities. 743 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,279 Speaker 6: Well, the interesting thing about James Cameron is he did 744 00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:24,600 Speaker 6: not make another movie for a very very long time 745 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 6: after Titanic. He made an enormous amount of money from it, 746 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:30,600 Speaker 6: and that gave him the freedom to do other kinds 747 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:33,440 Speaker 6: of things for the next several years. That meant a 748 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,680 Speaker 6: lot of things that didn't have a lot to do 749 00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:42,799 Speaker 6: with Hollywood. It meant dives and documentaries about the ocean. Interestingly, 750 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,960 Speaker 6: that first ad the woman who came at him and 751 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,480 Speaker 6: stabbed him in the face for their pen he ended 752 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:50,880 Speaker 6: up hiring her again on one of those documentaries that 753 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 6: he filmed in Halifax. So obviously no hard feelings from 754 00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 6: the PCP incident. 755 00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:58,920 Speaker 2: After Titanic, Bill Paxton continued to accrue a host of 756 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,920 Speaker 2: acting credits. He made his directorial debut in two thousand 757 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,160 Speaker 2: and one with the film Frailty, which he also starred in, 758 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:10,040 Speaker 2: and while the Halifax crew had an impressive movie on 759 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:15,560 Speaker 2: their resumes, life continued as normal in their special filmmaking community. 760 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,680 Speaker 2: The crew would go on to work on films and 761 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:23,279 Speaker 2: TV shows of varying sizes, although Titanic did draw a 762 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,120 Speaker 2: lot of awe and wonder. 763 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,520 Speaker 7: At any time any of my friends, they go, oh, 764 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 7: you work on a film? Is this what films do 765 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:33,200 Speaker 7: you work on? So eventually I have to cite Titanic. 766 00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:35,760 Speaker 7: As soon as I say Titanic, I got everybody's attention. 767 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:40,920 Speaker 2: As for the culprit behind the PCP spiked chowder, they 768 00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:46,400 Speaker 2: were never caught in February of nineteen ninety nine, two 769 00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:49,360 Speaker 2: and a half years after the crew was drugged, the 770 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:55,160 Speaker 2: Halifax Regional Police closed the investigation without a suspect. The 771 00:47:55,239 --> 00:48:00,600 Speaker 2: case was officially cold, with no culprit and no motive. 772 00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:04,880 Speaker 2: There's no answer as to why someone poisoned James Cameron 773 00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 2: and his crew. One thing that is certain, however, is 774 00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:12,880 Speaker 2: that the mayhem the PCP culprit brought to Titanic didn't 775 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,640 Speaker 2: stop James Cameron from creating one of the greatest films 776 00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:21,000 Speaker 2: of all time. Despite all of the onset issues and 777 00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:26,760 Speaker 2: media articles claiming Titanic would fail, James proved his critics wrong. 778 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,279 Speaker 6: You know, one thing I've noticed about Cameron is I 779 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:34,080 Speaker 6: think he actually kind of gets a kick out of 780 00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:37,400 Speaker 6: when people underestimate him. He is good at tuning that 781 00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:40,799 Speaker 6: stuff out or sort of taking it in but not 782 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,080 Speaker 6: taking it on, if that makes sense. And I think 783 00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:46,360 Speaker 6: he knew he was making something pretty special, and I 784 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:48,760 Speaker 6: don't think he put much stock in the media coverage 785 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:49,600 Speaker 6: of him. 786 00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,520 Speaker 2: James Cameron would go on to surpass Titanic as the 787 00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:57,120 Speaker 2: highest grossing film of all time with two thousand and 788 00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:01,839 Speaker 2: nine's Avatar, followed by Avia the Way of Water. In 789 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:06,319 Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, all three films have grossed over two 790 00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 2: billion dollars over twenty six years later. It's unlikely that 791 00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:15,239 Speaker 2: the PCP culprit will ever be named, but when it 792 00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,920 Speaker 2: comes to Hollywood, anything is possible. 793 00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:20,120 Speaker 6: It sounds like it should be the next season of 794 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 6: True Detective or something like these Canadian cops trying to 795 00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,520 Speaker 6: solve this twenty five year old mystery of who spiked 796 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:28,239 Speaker 6: the chowder on the Titanic set. 797 00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:31,880 Speaker 2: Until then, the only things that remain of that chaotic 798 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:35,399 Speaker 2: night in Halifax are the memories of the people who 799 00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:38,839 Speaker 2: lived it and the good Crew bad Cruise shirts that 800 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 2: Claude helped make. I have to say, for like a 801 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:51,440 Speaker 2: story about spiked chowder with PCP, like, there are moments 802 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:53,880 Speaker 2: of this that are very heartwarming. There's like moments of 803 00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:57,000 Speaker 2: love and friendship that I found very endearing. It's a 804 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,680 Speaker 2: more wholesome story than I expected. 805 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,560 Speaker 1: The moment when James ca gets stabbed in the face 806 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: while he's high on PCP. You wouldn't think that would 807 00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:06,400 Speaker 1: be a sweet moment, but it totally turns out to 808 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,239 Speaker 1: be this sweet moment because he then rehires the woman 809 00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:11,120 Speaker 1: who stabbed him in the face with the pen. I mean, 810 00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:13,040 Speaker 1: what a sweetheart, what a forgiving guy. 811 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,440 Speaker 2: That is what people say about James Cameron. People are 812 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,839 Speaker 2: constantly saying, James Cameron, huge sweetheart. That's like the only 813 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:19,960 Speaker 2: thing we hear about him. 814 00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:21,839 Speaker 1: I think that's why they called him King of the World. 815 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:23,200 Speaker 1: Is like king of the sweethearts. 816 00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:24,400 Speaker 3: Really, yeah, he's. 817 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:25,920 Speaker 2: The sweetest man in Hollywood. 818 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,040 Speaker 3: He moved that table. That's all I needed. 819 00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:30,839 Speaker 4: Like, when I'm carrying a table, I want one other 820 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:32,799 Speaker 4: person just to help, and look, he did it. 821 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,800 Speaker 2: I really do like his relationship though with Bill Paxton. 822 00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:38,759 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh, come on, the two of them. I means, 823 00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:40,480 Speaker 1: sitting there with that twelve pac trying to get down 824 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:42,200 Speaker 1: off of the high. They don't even understand. I mean, 825 00:50:42,239 --> 00:50:44,600 Speaker 1: how amazing is that. You're like, hey, buddy, you got 826 00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:46,359 Speaker 1: I got some beers. Let's go back to my place 827 00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:49,279 Speaker 1: and we'll just wind this down. And they're both sideways. 828 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,359 Speaker 1: I mean almost like I could relate. That's all I'm 829 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:52,320 Speaker 1: gonna say. I could relate. 830 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:56,680 Speaker 4: So, Zarin, is Bill Paxon your very special character for 831 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,759 Speaker 4: this episode? We should do this each episode. Let's pick 832 00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:00,960 Speaker 4: one person each. 833 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,240 Speaker 1: I would say, Yeah, Bill Pexston is my spirit character. 834 00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:05,840 Speaker 1: And then also the whoever was who came up with 835 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:09,000 Speaker 1: the idea we should race wheelchairs in a hospital. 836 00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:10,359 Speaker 3: That's my dude as well. 837 00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,200 Speaker 2: My very special character is the nurses at the hospital 838 00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:17,440 Speaker 2: who had to deal with this influx of people just 839 00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:22,080 Speaker 2: absolutely tripping and confused and probably just got a crazy 840 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:23,520 Speaker 2: story for the rest of their lives. 841 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:28,320 Speaker 4: Truly, I would tell that to every patient after August 842 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:30,799 Speaker 4: nineteen ninety six would get that story if I if 843 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,840 Speaker 4: I had been there that night. My very special character, 844 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:38,360 Speaker 4: and it wasn't close for me. Great choices all, but 845 00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:40,680 Speaker 4: for me it's the late Annie Fuller, the one who 846 00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:45,080 Speaker 4: got the good crew, bad cruise shirt silk screened. She 847 00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:48,120 Speaker 4: is the I'm sorry not silk screened, the embroidered better 848 00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:48,880 Speaker 4: than silk. 849 00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:49,880 Speaker 3: Screen Oh yeah, embroider. 850 00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:53,320 Speaker 4: You got to make these things live on in fashion, 851 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:56,640 Speaker 4: in merch. And it reminds me that about two minutes 852 00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:59,120 Speaker 4: after you all agreed to do this podcast, I was 853 00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:02,840 Speaker 4: hitting you up for your hoodie sizes, for hat sizes. 854 00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,680 Speaker 4: I just wanted, like, we got to move this from 855 00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:10,400 Speaker 4: the podcast to the podcast adjacent clothing, and so be 856 00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:12,399 Speaker 4: on the lookout. We're gonna get that headed your way 857 00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:18,160 Speaker 4: real soon. Very Special Episodes is made by some very 858 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:18,960 Speaker 4: special people. 859 00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:21,920 Speaker 3: This episode was written by Katie Maddie. 860 00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:26,240 Speaker 4: Our producer, editor and sound designer is the Great Josh Fisher. 861 00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:31,840 Speaker 4: Additional editing by John Washington, mixing and mastering by Baheed Frasier, 862 00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:37,719 Speaker 4: Original music by Elise McCoy, Show logo by Lucy Kintonia, 863 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:42,759 Speaker 4: Research and fact checking by Marissa Brown, Austin Thompson and 864 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:47,360 Speaker 4: Katie Maddie. Very Special Episodes is hosted by Danish Schwartz, 865 00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:51,600 Speaker 4: Zaren Burnett and me Jason English. I am your executive 866 00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:54,160 Speaker 4: producer and we'll see you back here next week. Very 867 00:52:54,160 --> 00:53:07,560 Speaker 4: Special Episodes is the production of iHeart Podcasts.