Could Rose have saved Jack in the climax of James Cameron’s Titanic? In the last few scenes of the iconic film, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) sacrifices his position on a floating piece of debri -- and chance to live -- so that Rose (Kate Winslet) could survive Titanic’s sinking. But many viewers have suggested that both could’ve stayed on the makeshift raft and survived. Mythbusters even did an experiment to prove that Jack could have lived.
James Cameron has weighed in on the question, so has Kate Winslet. Now, almost 20 years after Titanic, though magnificent, broke the hearts of millions with the death of its hero Jack in the end, its villain, actor Billy Zane, says that Leo’s character “had to die”.
Zane portrayed the role of Kate’s arrogant fiance Cal in the film, which went on to win 11 out of the 14 Oscars it was nominated for. On the question why Rose did not make room for Jack on the door, he told People magazine, “Your hero had to die. I don’t know what else would have done it. It had to happen.” He also justified it as “just good storytelling.”
Cameron had earlier also said that Jack was always meant to die. “The answer is very simple because it says on page 147 (of the script) that Jack dies. Very simple... Obviously it was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him...” the director had said in an interview.
Cameron said it was “kind of silly” to still have this discussion but it also shows that Jack became so endearing to the audience that “it hurts them to see him die”.
Kate, however, hinted that there was enough room on the floating door for both of them. She candidly said late last year, “I lied. I fully lied,” when Colbert reminded her of a scene in the film in which she says, “I will never let you go Jack.”
