carlyleverdeservesbetter:HOW DID YOU LAND THE ROLE OF CORA?It was my very first [acting gig]. I’m fr

carlyleverdeservesbetter:HOW DID YOU LAND THE ROLE OF CORA?It was my very first [acting gig]. I’m from San Diego, and they were having an open casting call for extras down in Mexico [where the movie filmed]. My mom was just like, “I have to get my kids down there; they’re so cute; this could be such a great opportunity!” She knew I wanted to be an actress; I’ve wanted to be an actress since I was, like, 4 years old. So we drove down there.At that time, my sister was 3 or 4, a little teeny, tiny thing. We’re [at the auditions], and my mom was talking about the Titanic, explaining the sinking, and my sister started crying! Just bawling. She was so sad that so many people had died. And at that exact moment, Mali Finn, who was the casting director for the film, walked by. Now, there’s a character in the film called “Crying Girl,” which is a little girl that Billy Zane picks up to get into a lifeboat with [during the sinking scenes]. Right away, Mali said, “Get that kid in a costume and get her on a boat right now!” So my mom took her, and they went and got her in costume to try out for the part.In the meantime, Mali asked if I wanted to audition [for Cora’s part]. So I did. I got in line behind, like, 10 little blonde girls — they wanted a blonde girl — and I remember I wanted to go last because I was so nervous. They all went in, and then I went in, and she just had me ad lib a couple lines, dance on her feet with her, and that was it, that was the entire audition. It didn’t work out for my sister, she had cried too much, but a couple of weeks later, my mom had a message on the machine saying I had gotten the part. I remember crying, screaming, running around the house like a little maniac.WHAT WAS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE, SHOOTING TITANIC?In a word, it was amazing. It was so weird [at first] because I was so young at the time and I didn’t really understand what was going on. But everyone was so nice to me, and I just did [what I was told]. You show up on set, and you get your hair and makeup, and then your costume, and then James Cameron directs you, and you’re like, “All right, I’m just going to do that.”My very first scene that we filmed was one where I’m sitting with Leonardo DiCaprio, and we were drawing in his sketchbook. And he sees Rose and then [the actor] playing my dad comes up and says, “All right, say good-bye to Uncle Jack,” so he could go off with her. It got cut — it’s in the deleted scenes — but it was three hours [of takes] and, in between, just hanging out and drawing pictures with Leo.DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU AND LEO WERE DRAWING?If I remember correctly, we were drawing the world, and we were drawing the rain, which was God crying. I have this really weird memory of that.PLEASE TELL ME YOU GOT TO KEEP THAT SKETCH OR SOMETHING THAT LEO DREW FOR YOU.Here’s the thing, and this is really, really sad — there’s another scene where Leo is drawing me and my dad, we’re, like, looking out at the ocean and he’s drawing us; it’s the scene where he sees Rose for the first time. Leo signed that sketch for me, and it was [being kept] safe in a trailer, and someone went in and stole it. I was so upset.THE WORST. I KNOW YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT LEO GETTING YOU PB&J SANDWICHES BETWEEN TAKES AND OTHER SWEET STUFF — WAS HE A JACK DAWSON DREAMBOAT IN REAL LIFE?He totally was. There was so much of Jack in Leo, definitely. He was very sweet; he was very goofy, absolutely adorable. He always had a smile on his face, it was great.WERE YOU CONSCIOUS OF HIS STATUS AS A HEARTTHROB ON SET?I didn’t ever really notice that; I wasn’t really paying attention, because I was thinking, This is my new best friend Leo, and he’s so cool. In between scenes, we would hang out, and Kate would come up and talk to us too — she was obsessed with my sister’s hair, so she was always playing with it. And Leo would try to chase my sister around and tickle her.But it was funny because that year, especially after filming, that’s when he was all over the J-14 magazines. People at school would bring the magazines in and I would be like, “Oh, I know him.” You know, like a total little snob. They’d all say, “We know you know him! Shut up!” [Laughs.] At one point, I actually invited him to come trick-or-treating with me.THAT IS AMAZING.He said something like, “That’s so sweet, I’ll talk to my manager and see if I can make that happen.” It didn’t.DO YOU NOT KEEP IN TOUCH WITH LEO NOW, TO TRY INVITING HIM OUT AGAIN?I don’t. And it’s such a bummer. I wish I did.MAYBE THIS IS THE YEAR NOW, WITH ALL THIS ATTENTION. THIS HALLOWEEN, HE’LL SHOW UP ON YOUR DOORSTEP SAYING, “TRICK OR TREAT?” OR SOMETHING.He’ll be like, “You’ve been waiting for this for almost 20 years!”Alexandrea Owens-Sarno: Interview With Cora From Titanic - Cosmopolitan -- source link

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