A man who played a tiny part in Titanic has revealed not only that he is still being paid for his role, but that in fact he has stopped cashing in the cheques!
Now, Titanic is probably the biggest movie of the last fifty years. Directed by James Cameron and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, the story revolves around the real life story of the sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic boat that really went under the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912.
Although the characters of Rose and Jack that Winslet and DiCaprio play are fictional, the basis of much of the rest of the movie is, in fact, real, including the heartbreaking story of the sinking ship.
The epic tale has gone on to gross over $2 billion, making it one of the most successful movies of all time.
Reece Thompson played his small part in the movie when he was just 5 years old. He acted as an Irish emigrant in the third class department of the boat. Although he only has one line, his part is one of the most haunting in the entire movie.
Because Thompson’s character is in third class, his family is unable to board one of the few lifeboats from the ship, and so they were essentially sat in their cabin waiting to die while the boat sinks.
“What are we doing mummy?” Thompson asks in his starring scene.
To which, his on-screen mother responds: “We’re just waiting, dear. When they finish putting first-class people in the boats, they’ll be starting with us, and we’ll want to be ready, right?”
However, twenty-five years later, Thompson has revealed he is still getting cheques through the post for his small role in the film.
Speaking to Australia’s Network 10, he revealed: “Yeah, I still do [receive royalty cheques], it’s true.
“But I haven’t updated my address in several years, honestly since the last time I got interviewed for this.
“So, I haven’t seen them [the cheques] in a few years. I’m just assuming that they are still coming.”
He went on to explain how it feels to have been such a memorable role in such a memorable movie.
“It’s interesting, I’d say my family and I mostly just think that it’s interesting that people are still finding it interesting,” he said.
“My wife and I mostly just get a kick out of comments. They are mostly just interesting to read, but – yeah – it feels like a dream it was so long ago.
“Any number of different things [are said], honestly, some of the comments I just can’t believe that it’s happening twenty-five years later.
“Now people are beginning to associate my face with it, whereas before it was a random fact about me, it’s kind of weird.”
Thompson went on to explain how he landed the role in the first place.
“Honestly, it was probably that I just looked Irish enough for a casting director that I got the job,” he shared.
“I had an agent, so I guess that was kind of how it initially got started.
“My mom did tell me that before they cast me they hadn’t decided who was going to get the line, so I think it was kind of up in the air who was actually going to get to say that in the movie.
“I didn’t know what an Irish accent was at all, didn’t have any appreciation of it, so I just did as best as I could with what they gave me.”
