Like other films based upon true stories, Cameron was able to take real-life events and dramatize them in a way that was accessible and interesting for audiences. According to Paul Burns, vice president and curator for the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee, Cameron wanted to “surround Jack and Rose, particularly in first class, with real passengers.”
The film’s historian, Don Lynch, says Cameron picked out the people in advance when writing the script. Lynch advised actors about their historical characters’ accents, behaviors, personalities and more while on set for the movie. The main characters, however, were not based on historical figures.
Was Rose from ‘Titanic’ Based on a Real Person?
While Rose wasn’t a real historical person, Kate Winslet did have some real life inspiration to lean on, according to Bustle. The character Rose was based on an inspirational woman named Beatrice Wood.
Wood was an artist during her life, and she lived life to the fullest. She was born in San Francisco in 1893 to wealthy parents, but she was a rebel from the very start. Much like Rose’s character, Wood wanted to do her own thing and not always listen to what her parents wanted her to do.
Because she wanted to be a painter, Wood spent time in Paris as an artist and performer, which led her to meeting the wrong men. She ran away from her chaperone when she was attending the Academy Julian in Giverny, France, and moved to an attic room that could only be accessed by a ladder and lined the walls with her own canvasses.