Splashy, to Say the Least

The Scene: Sunday’s premiere of Paramount and Fox’s “Titanic” at Mann’s Chinese theater. Writer / director James Cameron’s epic is the most expensive film ever made and the most anticipated of the season. (Before the screening, Bruce Vilanch said, “I’m so excited, I’m retaining water.”) The film’s launch included closing four blocks of Hollywood Boulevard, 50 television crews (a new touch--cameras on cranes and scissor-lifts), hundreds of screaming fans and a splashy after-party.

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Who Was There: Cameron with wife Linda Hamilton, stars “Lee-oh-nahr-DOH!” (as chanted by teenage girls) DiCaprio and Bill Paxton, plus 1,500 guests. Among those not missing the boat were Mel Gibson, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvester Stallone, Rod Stewart, Jennifer Tilly, Ashley Judd with Bobby Shriver, Rupert Everett, Maria Shriver, Bill Maher, Lou Pitt, John Burnham, Gordon Getty, architect Richard Meier and

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Paramount’s Jonathan Dolgen, Sherry Lansing and Rob Friedman, plus Fox’s Peter Chernin, Bill Mechanic and Tom Sherak.

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The Buzz: This and “L.A. Confidential” are the films to beat for Oscars. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it “the greatest movie I’ve ever seen.” The word “spectacular” came up repeatedly.

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Overheard: “It’s safe to say no one needs to do another Titanic movie after this.”

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The Party: Guests traversed a 150-yard-long enclosed walkway that opened onto an airplane hangar-size white tent done as a Titanic museum because, said designer Paul Cunliffe of Merv Griffin Productions, “This is the greatest collection of props I’ve ever had to work with. This stuff should be in the Getty.” Among the items were a 1912 Renault, beaded gowns, walls of gilded mahogany, one gangplank, antique silver, miniature icebergs and the piece de resistance--a 50-foot Titanic model, exact in detail down to the stained-glass windows, which is headed for the Smithsonian.

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Quoted: “I always figured we could get the ship to sink and it would look pretty good,” said Cameron. “The fact that people are laughing at the dinner scene and stuff that on the page didn’t look like much, for me as the writer, that’s satisfying.”

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Money Matters: Tickets started at $350, and more than $250,000 was raised for the Fulfillment Fund, a program that helps disadvantaged L.A. students go to college.