Oh, shit. It seems a pop-culture beef is emerging and it's the best kind of beef around (besides Kobe, I guess): one about Titanic. In this corner, we have Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey. In the other, James Cameron, director of a bunch of blockbusters and HMFIC. Maybe I'm calling this thing early, but I have a feeling it could equal the Jon Hamm-Kim Kardashian feud in terms of absurdity and sheer delight.
Fellowes, whose own Titanic mini-series will premiere on ABC in April, didn't take shots at Celine Dion or the fact that you totally did let go, Rose, but rather the portrayal of First Officer William Murdoch in Cameron's film. If you'll recall, Murdoch is the dude who (in the movie) freaks out during a lifeboat stampede, shoots a few passengers, and then kills himself. That's not exactly how it went down in real life, and Fellowes took issue with it:
"That was very unfair how Murdoch was depicted. He wasn't cowardly. He fired a pistol to just stop a potential riot. It was suddenly getting out of hand, and he fired it in the air. That's not being cowardly… I don't think you can take someone who was moral and decent and make them do something immoral and indecent. I would feel uncomfortable doing that. So we have Murdoch, and we have him firing a pistol…(But) there is a little bit of setting the record straight."
Okay, sure, it's no Christopher Plummer vs. Uggie, but given Cameron's egomania, I'm thinking it could still launch something bigger and crazier than any of us could possibly imagine. While we wait for confirmation on this, you can check out pictures from Fellowes' mini-series. Apparently it's been getting meh reviews, but I will be wearing my best fascinator for this TV event.