There is one unpleasant truth about the current wave of 3d Re-Releases hitting cinemas in the coming weeks, months and years. The door is now wide open for some directors to continually fiddle with their films post-release.
It is one thing to release a director’s cut, or advertise an alternate take on a film, but, as George Lucas has proved time and again, sometimes the filmmakers just make changes and don’t acknowledge previous versions at all. Cementing what ever current release as ‘the’ version of the movie everyone is meant to see. This rarely goes over well.
So has James Cameron gone down this potentially dark path with his new 3D Re-Release of Titanic? Well according The Telegraph, yes and no:
Cameron, a famed perfectionist, has admitted re-doing a scene in which character Rose clings to a piece of driftwood to survive after leading expert Neil deGrasse Tyson sent him a “snarky” email… The American astronomer accused the original film of having the wrong star field for the time and date, 4.20am on April 15, 1912, and claimed Cameron should have known better.
In response, Cameron challenged him to send the exact star map and has now included it in the relaunched 3D version of the blockbuster film.
So yes, Cameron did indeed make alterations to his film, but when they are this subtle, and done in such a near tongue-in-cheek sort of way we can grant a pass. The addition this makes to the movie is minor, but it creates a slightly more accurate version of the events, and gives the making of this iconic film one more awesome story.
