In this kind of job, you tend to hear some pretty incredible stories which sound too bonkers to be true. But nothing could have prepared me for this story from the set of Titanic where a big chunk of the film crew got absolutely belted after someone spiked the catering with drugs. Not just any kind of drugs, either. Fuckin’ PCP. Angel dust. Straight-up rocket fuel.
The 1997 blockbuster starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio turns 25 this year and some of the crew members regaled Variety with the tale of the night things took a hard turn starboard at the film’s set in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“We had a room for the grips and electricians, and one of the guys started talking really hyper,” a crew member named Jake Clarke said.
“He’s a big guy, like 6’4”, and he says, ‘Do you guys feel okay? Because I don’t. I feel like I’m on something, and believe me, I would know.’ He was just chattering on like that.
“And just as he was saying this, we saw James Cameron run by the door and this extra running behind him. He said, ‘There’s something in me! Get it out!’”
Ok so a new Knives Out movie but it’s Benoit Blanc investigating who spiked that Titanic crew dinner with PCP
— Jeremy Mott (@itsjmott) December 20, 2022
While Leo and Kate weren’t on set when the cooked chowder was consumed by most of the crew, Bill Paxton — who played treasure hunter Brock Lovett — got stuck into it.
Set decorator Claude Roussel told Vulture he just vibed out in Dartmouth General Hospital where most of the crew were sent when it became evident they’d been spiked with something nefarious (and extremely hallucinogenic).
“Bill Paxton was a real sweetie,” he said.
“He was sitting next to me in the hallway of the hospital, and he was kind of enjoying the buzz. Meanwhile, grips were going down the hallway doing wheelies in wheelchairs.”
James Cameron also remembered moments from the “Chowder Incident” in an interview with Vanity Fair back in 2009.
He said a number of the 60-odd Titanic film crew members who scoffed down the offending soup were “moaning and crying” and some had collapsed on tables. Not the Director of Photography (DP) though, apparently he was “leading a number of crew down the hall in a highly vocal conga line”.
Good Lord I wish I could have been a fly on the wall that particular night.
