When Titanic was released in 1997, it broke box office records, earned critical acclaim, and sparked an international obsession over the luxurious ‘ship of dreams’ that sank less than a century earlier.
It catapulted leading man Leonardo DiCaprio to a whole new level of fame, as swarms of lovestruck teenagers headed to the theaters in a phenomenon known as ‘Leo Mania.’
The film is now approaching its 30th anniversary, but fascination over the ill-fated romance between a third class passenger and aristocrat has never waned.
While Jack Dawson (DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) were the heroes of the film, it also told the story of an immigrant seeking a better life in America.
That character was Dawson’s best friend, Fabrizio De Rossi, an Italian native played by actor Danny Nucci who won a ticket onto the ship during a last-minute game of poker.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail, Nucci detailed working with DiCaprio, Winslet, the movie’s legacy, and the misery of filming the iconic ‘King of the world’ scene that has come to define the movie.
‘We were miserable because it was cold. It was February. It was cold. Wind was blowing up there. We were hungry, we’re tired. And then, the minute they said “action”, Leo and I acted like it was the greatest day of our life,’ Nucci told The Daily Mail.
Actor Danny Nucci has revealed the misery of filming this particular scene and working with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on Titanic in an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail
Nucci played Fabrizio De Rossi, Jack’s best friend and an Italian immigrant seeking a better life in America
It’s a moment illustrating the optimism filling the protagonists as they set sail across the Atlantic, and a scene that is cemented in cinema history.
‘I can see the Statue of Liberty already!’ Fabrizio tells Jack as they stand at the bow of the ship. ‘Very small, of course!’
‘I’m the king of the world!’ Jack jubilantly shouts before punching the air multiple times and joyfully hollering.
The smiles on their faces concealed the suffering DiCaprio and Nucci both endured to get the shot.
Though it’s now been 30 years since they shot the scenes, Nucci said it’s just like old times whenever he crosses paths with DiCaprio.
‘I’ve run into him a couple of times,’ Nucci told The Daily Mail. ‘It’s like we pick up right where we left… Catch up a little bit. We make fun of each other, the fact that we’ve aged, and then, you know, we go on our merry way.
‘He’s just a sweet, just an incredible human being.’
Nucci had equally high words for Winslet, a ‘pro and a champ’ who exhibited incredible work ethic on a daily basis.
‘She was the best,’ he recalled. ‘She was exhausted. She was, in essence, in almost every scene. We were working nights and we were working six days a week.
‘The schedule is toughest on her, just as far as all the actors, but she was a pro and a champ.’
The long days of filming were lightened by Winslet’s surprising comedic talent – a ‘Valley girl’ accent.
‘My favorite parts of working with her is I’d make her talk to me like a valley girl.
‘She speaks in a sophisticated British accent. And so I would just love when she’d go into like a valley, like, “Oh my God, damn.” Oh, that’s hilarious, hilarious!’
Nucci reflected on the film’s legacy in an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail
Jack Dawson and Fabrizio win tickets to the RMS Titanic over a round of poker
Nucci had high words for Kate Winslet, who he called a ‘pro and a champ’
Nucci’s role also called for him to use an accent, a character trait he used even when cameras weren’t rolling due to the challenges of acting with one.
The accent also received a bit of ribbing from DiCaprio.
‘I find accents very challenging to be consistent, and so that helps,’ he explained. ‘Although Leo kept making fun, he goes, “It’s me, Mario!”‘
For a movie with such big stakes, you’d think
On the last night of filming in Nova Scotia (a Canadian maritime province where the opening scenes were shot) a prankster mixed the illegal hallucinogenic drug PCP into the clam chowder served to the cast and crew, 80 of whom ended up in hospital.
Nucci was not on the Halifax set however he did hear about it all from two crew members who had consumed the spiked clam chowder.
According to Nucci, the workers were aware they had been spiked with a substance due to their past experience with hallucinogens.
While they decided to kick back and ride it out, the crew members who had never experimented with psychedelics were the ones ‘really freaked out.’
‘I’m not gonna mention names, but some of them had had experience with psychotropic drugs before so they knew that, they go, “Oh, I know what this is”… but the people who had never had any kind of experience with hallucinogenics of any kind were really freaked out.
Nucci called DiCaprio an ‘incredible human being’
The film was directed by James Cameron in what the cast believed would be a massive box office bomb; Nucci with Cameron on the set in 1996
‘But two of the crew members that I talked were like, “Oh yeah, no, I realized I was in for a long night and I just settled in.”‘
Nowadays, Nucci is still a working actor who has also explored other passions.
Outside of the Titanic phenomenon, Nucci has had roles in The Fosters, Crimson Tide, the Amazon animated series The Chosen Adventurers, and more.
He also recently appeared in a friend’s horror film about a crazy alligator: ‘He’s like, “will you play an ex con?” I’m like, “absolutely.”‘
In a surprise career move, he also was a member of a musical group called The Jim Isray Band.
‘I was in a band for a couple of years. I toured and I played with some world class musicians,’ he said. ‘We played Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and that was just in a completely different experience of life that I could not have foreseen. And it was pretty thrilling.’
‘We played with a number of all star musicians, John Fogarty and Ann Wilson and Steven Stills and Buddy Guy.
‘We were essentially the backing band for guest artists and all kinds of really cool covers. You can see it all. It’s on YouTube.’
The film broke box office records, a feat that was unimaginable to the cast at the time of shooting.
In fact, Nucci said they all believed the film would tank.
‘You don’t know when you’re doing it that it’s going to be what it became. As matter of fact, we thought it was going to be the biggest film disaster ever,’ he said.
‘It was over budget. It was insanely difficult to shoot. It was taking a long time, and I believe Jim Cameron [director James Cameron] kept giving back his fees in order to keep shooting,’ he explained.
‘I was in a band for a couple of years. I toured and I played with some world class musicians,’ he said
‘You don’t know when you’re doing it that it’s going to be what it became,’ Nucci told The Daily Mail of filming Titanic; pictured
Titanic sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912 after striking an iceberg during it’s maiden voyage.
Over 1,500 people perished in a tragedy that could have been prevented had it set sail with enough lifeboats to accommodate all the passengers on board.
The heartbreaking disaster is captured in all it’s devastation in the film, with desperate passengers shown attempting to escape the ship on one of the precious few lifeboats.
As a result of the film’s length, some of Nucci’s storyline had been cut from the final movie – a move he called ‘disheartening.’
‘Jim called me and said, “When I finished the first cut, it was five and a half hours.” He said, “Danny, everyone was cut”. I said, “okay.” But when you see it the first time, “okay, yeah, yeah, it’s still great,”‘ he recalled in a less-than-enthused tone.
It took Nucci two viewings of the movie for him to fully appreciate Titanic: ‘It wasn’t until I watched it the second time that I could see the actual movie… it’s really just surprising what’s left and how it all worked out. The second time I saw the film, I was blown away by it.’
Titanic won 11 Academy Awards and was even selected by preservation by the Library of Congress – making it a true part of cinema history and a project Nucci remains proud of.
‘I feel honored. Yeah, it’s incredible. It keeps coming up. People keep enjoying it. You know, we get an entirely new generation of people that find it,’ he told The Daily Mail.
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