Violet Jessop

Dave Gittins

Dave Gittins

Member
Violet Jessop was very little known until quite recently. She was briefly mentioned in John Maxtone-Graham's The Only Way to Cross in 1972. Her full story was not told until 1997, when John Maxtone-Graham published his edition of her memoirs. Whether a profitable movie could be made about her is an open question. There are certainly elements of adventure and romance, but would they be sufficient?
 
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caroline herzfeld

Member
mindy: Go for it! Mrs. J.J. Brown was a blip on the radar screen until the Broadway show bearing her name. Hollywood has made other box office successes out of people who were blips on the screen in their time or place. I think it sounds like a really good idea.
 
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Mindy Deckard

Member
I just think that hers is an amazing story. It was make an enjoyable film.
 
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Adam Usher

Member
I also think that it would be a good idea. Not only because of her involvement in such tragedies, etc, but i think that her whole life, rescuing a child, and then receiving telephone calls years later, from somebody claiming to be the child she saved. All of this would make a good film. I also think that there would be plenty of room for dramatical accounts of her time at sea.
 
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caroline herzfeld

Member
and who should play Violet Jessup? I think Patricia Arquette would make an excellent Violet. Can't think of any others offhand--haven't had my breakfast yet. Other nominees?
 
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Mindy Deckard

Member
I was thinking, for some strange reason, Anna Belknap would be perfect for the role.
 
Dave Gittins

Dave Gittins

Member
This flick could be bigger than Cameron ever dreamed of! All three of the Olympic class are required and two have to be sunk. Add all the other ships involved and there's a fair sort of fleet.

Then add locations from South America to Australia, plus a great deal of ocean. We Aussies might have trouble finding some snow-capped mountains at Katoomba, but problems are made to be overcome!
 
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Mindy Deckard

Member
I just have always wondered why Cameron didn't put her in....her story would have been a great B story line...
 
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Mindy Deckard

Member
A side note to the baby story. Violet, in her autobiography, said that years later she received a call from a person claiming to be that child. The person never identified him/herself and slammed down the phone as Violet began asking questions. Violet never knew if it was legit or if it was just a cruel hoax that someone attempted. Violet, though, later said that she never really had mentioned the story to many people...which made the story even more strange. Furthermore, her autobiography was published after her death so it could not have come from that source.

Try reading her autobiography...it is excellent and she is really witty throughout.
 
Michael H. Standart

Michael H. Standart

Member
Just speculating but I don't think Jim Cameron was interested in going off on any more tangents then he could possibly avoid. He may have wanted to do something with Miss Jessop, but the whole film, like Frankenstein's monster, had taken on a life of it's own. It came damned close to being canceled by the studios that were underwriting it because of cost overruns in the production. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars, you can only do so much.

As it was, quite a bit of the historical footage that was filmed ended up on the cutting room floor in deferance to Jack and Rose.
 
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Mindy Deckard

Member
Yeah...but what I was thinking was even a two second split like he did with Countess of Rothes...she was only on for a split second.

But it did get more people interested in her.
 
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