Titanic not only introduced two memorable lead characters but also a very special object that was the reason for a lot of conflict in the movie: the Heart of the Ocean, a large diamond in a necklace, and here's the real inspiration behind Rose's iconic necklace. Although director James Cameron's name is often associated with the sci-fi genre thanks to movies like The Terminator, Aliens, and Avatar, he has explored other genres as well, and one of his biggest projects was actually a disaster drama movie: Titanic, released in 1997.
Based on the accounts of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, Titanic tells the (fictional) story of Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), two passengers from opposite social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage. Over the course of four days, Rose and Jack found each other, got to know each other, fell in love, and defended their relationship from everyone who tried to keep them apart - mostly Rose's fiancé, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) - and her mother, Ruth (Frances Fisher). Cal serves as the main antagonist of the movie, and it's through him that a very important object is introduced: the Heart of the Ocean.
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The necklace was given to Rose on board the Titanic by Cal as a symbol of his love and commitment to her, but as the story developed, it was very clear that Cal's intentions weren't as sincere as he wanted everything to think. The Heart of the Ocean was the only thing Rose was wearing when Jack made a sketch of her, which she used to let Cal know that she was running away with Jack. The Heart of the Ocean was what set the plot of Titanic into motion as it's Brock Lovett's (Bill Paxton) expedition to find the necklace that brings Rose into the mix to share her story, and in the end, it's revealed that Titanic's Rose had had the necklace all along and finally got rid of it by throwing it into the ocean. While the story of Rose and Jack is fictional, many elements in Titanic were based on real-life people, events, and more, and the Heart of the Ocean might have been inspired by two different diamonds.
First off, there are reports of a real diamond and sapphire necklace on board the Titanic but with completely different stories to the one in the movie. The necklace was reportedly owned by Kate Florence Phillips and was given to her by her lover, Henry Samuel Morley. The pair were secretly sailing on the Titanic with the purpose of starting a new life together in America after Morley sold two of his shops and gave the money to his wife and daughter. Kate was wearing the necklace when the Titanic sank, and she made it to Lifeboat No. 11 while Morley, who couldn't swim, died in the ocean. It's also widely believed that the Heart of the Ocean is based on the Hope Diamond, a blue diamond of exceptional size. The Hope Diamond is said to be cursed, as it supposedly brought unhappy fates to those who owned it or wore it, and it's now on exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History in the United States.
Although the Heart of the Ocean wasn't cursed and its presence aboard the Titanic had nothing to do with the ship sinking, it was a key object in Jack and Rose's story and the movie in general so can even be seen as a character in itself. Titanic combines history and fiction, but these elements blend so perfectly at times that the audience is surprised to learn that some of them, like the Heart of the Ocean, don't exist.
Titanic's famed Heart of the Ocean may not be completely real, but various replicas have been made after the movie, and the trinket has been recreated for sale by jewelry companies (because even disaster movies aren't safe from merchandising). In the movie, the necklace is said to be made out of a rare blue diamond. The blue diamond is one of the rarest colors found in the diamond family and is considered to be extremely valuable. Natural blue diamonds come in different shades, such as greenish-blue, straight blue, and violet blue. Deep blue diamonds, like the one featured in Rose's necklace, are said to be the rarest among blue diamonds, driving up the ticket price even higher. If the Heart of the Ocean were real, it would be priced at $300.3 million. The necklace made for the movie, however, was put together with zirconia and white gold. The Titanic movie version of the Heart of the Ocean is priced at $8,007.