Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487666
72 W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y He said, "Welcome," patted me on the shoulder and walked away smiling. It was a fortuitous beginning as we worked well together for the rest of the next seven months and were held in his circle of trust for the work. Kudos for this are due to my crew of Donavan Dear and Jim Osburn—for sustaining their part in this ultimate professional endeavor. Half the time, Donavan was in an underwater dry suit just to keep things functioning and Jim was relentlessly rigging and unrigging multiple actors with packs throughout. Also, Brendan Beebe was our PA/ VOG maven and Chuck Weiss was video assist; both of these were massive jobs. Additional sound people who played with us mixing or booming material or units were Shawn Holden, Tom Brandau, and Patrushkha Mierzwa. I came to have great affection and respect for Jim Cameron. His passion and genius for the art of storytelling was forever present. He held the whole enterprise in his head and was profoundly prepared and disciplined. He has fire in his belly, not one of God's frozen children. When the world was certain this would be the worst disaster since Heaven's Gate, he never lost sight of how to tell his story. After a year of working on his script, it was sacrosanct and "pity the fool" actor who would attempt to change the words. That said, I can remember only two actors who got a pass for this: the unsinkable and fearless Kathy Bates and Leonardo DiCaprio. Both Leo and Kate Winslet were amazingly mature and talented for their tender ages. Much criticism of Jim came later as he cuddled his three Oscars on camera claiming, "King of the World," but a completely different message came to me as that was probably the only line in the movie that he didn't write himself. I learned this secondhand. Young Leo, who turned 21 during the production and was gaining recognition for his previous work, apparently wanted to speak this line for the iconic scene on the bow, but Jim was unmovable about changing his precious and precise dialogue. But on the day of that scene, several takes in, Jim relented and gave it to Leo and that is the take in the movie. On Oscar night, with our 14 nominations and 11 wins, Leo wasn't able to attend the awards. I always interpreted Jim's off-the-cuff exclamation as a kind of "Carol Burnett-to-her- grandmother ear pulling" moment to Leo for the incredible outcome that night. I've done four movies with Leo. The latest is the new Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moon, coming out in May or June 2023. Leo has grown to be a consummate filmmaker and having witnessed this up close, I think we will see even greater things coming from him in the future. Kate is very special and terrifically aware of the humans around her. She personally called every nominee to congratulate and thank them for their achievement. This demonstrated an amazing sensitivity L-R: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and James Cameron