Oscar winning-actress Kate Winslet has finally addressed the iconic Titanic door scene which, according to her, may not even be a “door” scene after all. Talking on the Australian talk show The Project, the actress said that the “door” featured in the iconic Titanic scene wasn’t really a door, but rather another piece of the set. When asked if there was “room on the door” for co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, whose character Jack Dawson held onto the piece of floating wood after the ship sank, Winslet said that she knew the interviewer would “ask me that question.”
“I thought, ‘He’s busting out the Titanic question and next he’s gonna ask me about the door.’ I absolutely knew it,” Winslet said. “But, you know, what I will say that’s really interesting is people keep referring to it as a door. It actually wasn’t even a door.” It’s a piece of bannister, like a stairway or something, that had broken off. Who knows if (DiCaprio) could’ve (fit) on there or not. Honestly, I don’t have any insights here that anyone else hasn’t already tried to figure out.”
The scene has been a topic of discussion among Titanic fans and general movie-goers ever since the film’s 1997 release, with some fans on Reddit also coming to the conclusion that the debris wasn’t a door and matching it with an image from inside the film’s titular ship.
Titanic director James Cameron also previously commissioned a scientific study to determine if there really was enough room for both Jack and Rose on the floating debris, when he and a team of scientists tapped two stunt doubles to reenact four different scenarios.
“Jack might’ve lived, but there’s a lot of variables. I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not gonna do one thing that jeopardizes her.'”