Though the two properties are seemingly quite different, there is a surprising connection between David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks and James Cameron’s Titanic. Airing on ABC, Twin Peaks aired from 1990 until 1991 for a total of 30 episodes during its original run. In 2017, Showtime brought the series back for a third season exclusively directed by Lynch, dubbed Twin Peaks: The Return. Though Twin Peaks boasts a loyal cult following, Titanic is perhaps a more well-known title. Directed by James Cameron, Titanic won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1997, the year of its release, along with a slew of other accolades. The film was a smash hit, gaining both general popularity and critical acclaim. What some Titanic fans might not know is that there are quite a few details connecting the film to cult classic Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks follows Dale Cooper, Special Agent of the FBI, as he endeavors to solve the murder of 17-year-old Laura Palmer. However, the town of Twin Peaks, Washington holds more secrets than its quiet appearance might suggest. When it seems as though Laura had connections with just about everyone in town, Cooper finds himself untangling a very complicated web. Titanic has a much less sinister focus, but it is no less tragic. The film follows Rose DeWitt-Bukater, a young American socialite boarding the famed ship with her mother. Disillusioned with the privileged but stifling life she leads, Rose becomes fascinated with a fellow passenger, the free-spirited Jack Dawson, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Cal Hockley. While the ship’s passengers are blissfully unaware of the impending tragedy, audiences experience the bittersweetness of Rose and Jack’s love story and the ship's eventual sinking.
The first connection between Titanic and Twin Peaks lies in the casting department: actors Billy Zane and David Warner appear in important supporting roles in both productions. In Twin Peaks, Warner appears as Thomas Eckhardt, a shrewd and cruel businessman who arranged the murder of his former partner, and Zane plays John Justice Wheeler, who falls for Audrey Horne, the daughter of his business associate, the local hotelier, Ben Horne. Though their Twin Peaks characters never interacted, Billy Zane and David Warner worked together again on Titanic, this time as a duo: Zane played Cal Hockley, protagonist Rose’s cruel fiancé, and Warner played Cal’s valet and bodyguard, Spicer Lovejoy.
Interestingly enough, Cal’s story mirrors that of a major Twin Peaks love triangle. While Warner once appeared in a villainous role, Zane made the switch from love interest to scorned husband. Like Zane’s character Cal, Twin Peaks antagonist Hank Jennings discovers that his wife has fallen in love with another man. Each man confronts his partner, calling her a whore. Both Hank’s wife Norma and Cal’s fiancée Rose reply, “I’d rather be his whore than your wife.” Funnily enough, this line is spoken in season 2, episode 16 of Twin Peaks – Billy Zane’s first episode in the series. There’s no real way of knowing how the line came to be repeated in Titanic; it’s possible that James Cameron was a fan of Twin Peaks and included the line as an homage to the series, or it could be pure coincidence.
Although the connections between Titanic and Twin Peaks are likely coincidental, they are hard to miss for fans of both the film and series. Conversations have sprung up among fans on fan sites and message boards wondering if the duplicate line is a sneaky reference, but without confirmation from James Cameron or actors Billy Zane or David Warner, there’s no real way to know. Regardless, it is a fun detail that certainly rings true to Twin Peaks’ often eerie themes, and a powerful moment between Cal and Rose, regardless of the line’s origin.