One year and one month before James Cameron’s Titanic became The Most Important Film Of Our Time, America (and Canada!) was gifted with Titanic, a two-part CBS miniseries starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Peter Gallagher. No one talks about Robert Lieberman’s TOT (The Other Titanic). This is probably because a) it was not very good and b) it cannot be obtained via Netflix. (You can, however, watch TOT in its entirety on YouTube.) Cameron’s TRT (The Real Titanic), on the other hand, has grossed over $2 billion and counting.
But are they really that different? TOT and TRT both clock in at around 3 hours, and (fun fact!) TOT was the first Titanic movie to show the ship split in two. TOT’s downfall was very possibly due to the fact that its production was rushed to capitalize on TRT’s impending release, though ultimately TRT’s summer release date was bumped up to Christmas. Or maybe it really is that terrible! Either way, let’s assess!
Release Date
TOT: November 17, 1996
TRT: December 19, 1997
Running Time
TOT: 173 minutes
TRT: 194 minutes
Star-Crossed Lovers
TOT: Catherine Zeta Jones & Peter Gallagher
TRT: Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio
Eyeliner-Loving Supporting Cast Members
TOT: Tim Curry
TRT: Billy Zane
Fancifully Named Villains
TOT: Simon Doonan (not that Simon Doonan)
TRT: Spicer Lovejoy
Directors’ Other Notable Work
TOT: D3: The Mighty Ducks, an ABC Afterschool Special called A Home Run For Love, an episode of the severely underrated Once & Again
TRT: The Terminator, Aliens, Avatar
Steamy Love Scene
TOT: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5320944/catherine_zeta_jones_hot_bed_scene_in_titanic/ (regrettably not in English)
TRT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2-N0qL1O50
OKAY, REALLY GLAD I GOT THAT OFF MY CHEST.
1 month ago • 3 notes
