In what 1997 epic romance-disaster film does Leonardo DiCaprio play Jack Dawson? Titanic features DiCaprio as the fictional third-class passenger.
Directed and written by James Cameron, Titanic combines the real 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic with a fictional romance between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Kate Winslet. Jack is an impoverished young traveler who wins his passage in a poker game and boards the ship at Southampton.
The movie recreates the liner’s maiden voyage, collision with an iceberg, and sinking while contrasting the experiences of first- and third-class passengers. Titanic became the first film to surpass $1 billion at the global box office and won 11 Academy Awards, tying Ben-Hur’s record at the time. Jack Dawson was fictional, although a real Titanic victim named J. Dawson was buried in Halifax; the filmmakers learned of him only after the movie’s release.