Actor from Titanic was still getting paid 25 years after movie was released

Whether you land the lead in a film or a tiny role, it turns out it doesn't matter to the accounts department as they'll keep paying you years later anyway.

And one bloke knows this all too well as he is still cashing in on his five minutes of fame for his role in Titanic.

Reece Thompson was five years old when he was told he could either appear in a petrol station advert or appear in the movie.

His choice turned out to be the best thing he could have done.

Even though doing the petrol ad would have been safer to do as you know it's going to appear on TV for months or years, he explained to Business Insider that his mum thought it would be a 'cool' opportunity for him to be in a big film.

She thought that even if the movie turned out to be a bit naff, at least the family could still watch it and see him in it.

He was cast and given the role of 'little Irish boy' (you remember exactly who he is now, right?).

His role was tiny, but he was given lines to say and those few moments left people scarred for life as he was depicted on the Titanic.

Reece Thompson played a young child on board the Titanic who ultimately doesn't make survive the ship sinking. (20th Century Fox)

We all know how successful the film turned out to be, with Titanic going on to be one of the most successful movies ever made, and it's still putting money in Reece's pocket to this day.

With three scenes and just one line, he didn't make that much money from playing his small role in the film as an adorable young child we see trying to get onto a lifeboat before huddling in his cabin with his mother and sister waiting for the ship to sink.

However, every year he still gets a bit of money coming in from residual cheques based off the movies earnings, though the Titanic gravy train isn't exactly bringing in the big bucks.

He said: "It's weird because it's not present in my mind anymore.

"It's not like, 'Oh, when am I going to get a new Titanic check?' When it happens, it's like, 'Oh, cool, an extra $100.'

"There have been a couple of times where it's been like: 'Oh, wow, that's a $250 check. This movie's 12 years old. That's pretty bizarre.' But hopefully, they keep playing it a lot, because that means more money for me."

Over the years he's earned about $30,000 (£24,000) from being in Titanic, though it's not exactly a huge amount to live on and definitely not enough to sustain a lifestyle by itself.

Initially in the 'low thousands' in the aftermath of Titanic's release, these days the residual cheques usually bring Reece in a couple of hundred bucks a year.

These days Reece Thompson is a marketing director at a snowboarding resort. (Facebook)

He has previously explained that in the years immediately after the movie's release, the residual cheques were larger as there was more buzz around Titanic, and the money he receives goes up whenever it spikes in popularity, like when it was released on VHS and DVD.

Since sitting around collecting residual cash from an old movie doesn't really pay the bills, Reece spends his time working as a marketing director for a skiing and snowboarding resort in Utah.

He doesn't really remember too much of his time on the set of Titanic, though he did recall struggling with his character's Irish accent.

Reece gets residuals from the movie as he has an actual credited role in the film, even if his character has no name.

Extras don't receive residuals for their parts in a movie, but some actors can rake in a fortune for their roles in films which are so popular they just keep getting shown.

I wonder what Reece thinks about that age-old debate about whether Jack could have fit on the door with Rose, or if like director James Cameron, he doesn't really care because it's not about whether he could have fit, it's about the drama.