It's the unsolved mystery of 90s cinema - why did Jack have to die in Titanic? It certainly looked like there was room on that door. Leonardo DiCaprio has finally addressed the question and while he may not have provided an answer - or even a satisfactory response - this seems to be his only word on the subject of Jack Dawson's death. A recap - at the end of James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster, Jack and Rose find a floating door to cling to as the Titanic sinks; Rose clambers onto it and Jack holds onto the side. He dies of hypothermia, Rose survives. Only, the door was almost definitely big enough for both. If Jaws needed a bigger boat, Titanic needed a smaller door.
In an interview with MTV to promote new film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the conversation shifted focus. Could Jack have fit on the door, Leonardo DiCaprio was asked. His co-star Brad Pitt applied more heat: "Could you? Could you have squeezed in there? You could have, couldn't you?" Leonardo's response: "No comment, Brad." Actress Margot Robbie, who also stars in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, checked with Leonardo if he had asked for the door to be made smaller. "Like I said, I have no comment," Leonardo responded. He's not unmindful that the Titanic ending broke millions of hearts simply for artistic purity, however. "That is the biggest controversy, I think, in modern cinema," Margot Robbie said; "Ever," qualified Leonardo.
Watch the interview here:
That Jack died at the end of Titanic has bothered fans for over 20 years. In 2016, Kate Winslet, who played Rose, confirmed while speaking to the press at the BAFTAs that Leonardo DiCaprio had no opinion on the matter. "He doesn't care about the door," she said. Kate, however, thinks Jack didn't have to die. A month before the BAFTAs, she told Jimmy Kimmel, "I agree! I think he could have actually fitted on that bit of door."
In 2017, Titanic director James Cameron said in an interview with Vanity Fair that it was an "artistic choice" and that Jack "had to die" because if he had lived, "the ending of the film would have been meaningless."
Titanic, which also starred Billy Zane and several other notables in the supporting cast, broke box office and Oscar records.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, directed by Quentin Tarantino, is based on the Manson family killings; Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt star as fictional characters - a washed up actor and his stunt double - while Margot Robbie plays actress Sharon Tate who was murdered by Charles Manson and his followers in 1969.
