Titanic, PCP and chowder: New details about drugging on 1996 film set in Halifax revealed

globalnews.ca:

The Hollywood blockbuster Titanic is known for many things, including an emotionally charged film set, a ballooning budget and nearly a dozen Oscar wins after it was released in 1997.

But there’s a story about the movie some may not be so familiar with. It’s a mystery behind the scenes during filming in Nova Scotia that involves lobster chowder and a hallucinogenic drug.

“It was kind of like, very dreamy, very surreal,” recalls Marilyn McAvoy, who is now a part-time faculty member at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

“Like many things that happened on that movie, I think it’s just become this kind of lore.”

Back in August 1996, McAvoy worked on the Halifax-area set of Titanic as a painter. Only the movie’s modern-day scenes were filmed in Nova Scotia, which meant leading stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were not present.

McAvoy even had an unexpected cameo, during a scene when Bill Paxton’s character examines a drawing recovered from the wreckage.

“That wasn’t part of the plan. As a scenic painter or standby painter, usually, you don’t get these little cameos, but I ended up working with the drawing that (director) James Cameron did of Kate Winslet,” she says.

“He didn’t want anyone else touching it, so he asked me if I would be this lab technician for this one day of shooting here in Dartmouth.”

While that was memorable enough, an incident that sent her and about 80 crew members to hospital is even more unforgettable.

It’s alleged the cast and crew were served chowder tainted with a drug known as phencyclidine (PCP), or Angel Dust.

Rick Courtney was a production assistant at the time, and had a background role as a sailor. He also happened to run a safety training company and has experience as a medic.