Though more than twenty years have passed since Titanic premiered, one of its cast members still earns a bit of residual income despite appearing in just one scene.
Reece Thompson, who was only five years old when he acted in the 1997 disaster epic, played a minor character.
Young Thompson is seen in one of the most poignant moments of James Cameron’s tragic love story, which stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
If you recall the film, you might remember Thompson as a young, third-class Irish passenger awaiting rescue with his mother and sister after the iceberg collision. As third-class passengers, their evacuation was not prioritized.
Thompson has a line in the movie, asking: “What are we doing mummy?”
His 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?”
Regrettably, they never reach safety.
In a recent interview, Thompson, who now serves as a digital marketing director in Utah, revealed he continues to receive royalties from his role, although he has stopped cashing the cheques for a particular reason.
“Yeah, I still do [receive royalty cheques], it’s true,” he told Australia’s Network 10.
“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.”
Though Thompson and his wife enjoy comments about his role in the film, he doesn’t have vivid memories of that time.
“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.
“[The comments] are mostly just interesting to read, but – yeah – it feels like a dream it was so long ago.”
Despite the small role, Thompson found the job intense, especially as he had to adopt an Irish accent on set.
“Honestly, it was probably that I just looked Irish enough for a casting director that I got the job,” he explained.
“I had an agent, so I guess that was kind of how it initially got started.”
Back then, he had no idea what an Irish accent should sound like, so he did his best to create one.
“My mum 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,” he said.
“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.”