Ever since the release of Titanic in 1997, debate has raged over whether the piece of wood which keeps Kate Winslet’s Rose out of the icy waters could in fact have also accommodated her lover, Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
One lucky theorist can now test their hypothesis, as the piece of prop balsa wood has sold at auction for $718,750 (£567,561).
The door – which the auction notes reveal was in fact part of the door frame above the ship’s first-class lounge entrance – is clung on to by the central couple as the ship sinks. But in their attempts to clamber to relative safety, they realise there is only space for one person, so Jack sacrifices his life for Rose.
In 2022, director James Cameron attempted to quash speculation over whether Jack’s death was unnecessary by conducting what he told Postmedia was a “scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all.
“We have since done a thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert who reproduced the raft from the movie … We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was: there was no way they both could have survived. Only one could survive.”
Cameron concluded by invoking less scientific rationale: “[Jack] needed to die. It’s like Romeo and Juliet. It’s a movie about love and sacrifice and mortality. The love is measured by the sacrifice.”
Other key lots at the Heritage Auctions’ Treasures from Planet Hollywood event included Winslet’s chiffon dress from Titanic’s finale, which sold for $125,000 (£98,743), Indiana Jones’s bullwhip from The Temple of Doom ($525,000/£414,717) and Jack Nicholson’s axe from The Shining ($125,000/£98,743).
Meanwhile, Bill Murray’s red rose bowling ball from Kingpin fetched $350,000 (£276,454) and Tobey Maguire’s black symbiote suit from Spider-Man 3 sold for $125,000 (£98,743).
The can of shaving cream used by Wayne Knight to smuggle out dinosaur embryos in Jurassic Park made $250,000 (£197,451) and a blaster carried by Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi took $150,000 (£118,463).
A number of items which didn’t sell in Monday’s auction are still available, including Mark Addy’s red thong from The Full Monty (buy it now price: $625/£494).
