Kate Winslet Gives Definitive Answer About Whether Jack Would've Fit On The Door In Titanic
Following its theatrical premiere in May of 2022, "Top Gun: Maverick" beat a record held by "Titanic" before it, becoming the film to earn the most money domestically for distributor Paramount Pictures in the company's history. While "Titanic" is no longer number one, the fact that its financial success was significant enough to hold onto that spot between its premiere in December of 1997 and mid-2022 speaks to just how successful James Cameron's historical epic became at the time of its release.
Of course, its high degree of success doesn't mean that "Titanic" is without flaws. For instance, plenty of fans think the climax of "Titanic" doesn't make sense. Notably, nearing the film's conclusion, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) helps Rose (Kate Winslet) onto a large piece of wooden detritus floating in the ocean after the Titanic ship's crash. Jack then dies of hypothermia in the cold seas while Rose floats to safety. However, plenty of viewers have called the necessity of Jack's sacrifice into question, proposing various uncomplicated scenarios that would have allowed both Jack and Rose to survive. As a result, this moment is widely considered one of the most controversial movie endings of all time.
On a December 16 podcast appearance, Winslet addressed the "Titanic" ending controversy directly, finally weighing in on whether or not she thinks Jack could have fit on the door alongside Rose and survived the shipwreck's aftermath.
Kate Winslet doesn't see a scenario in which Jack could have survived
On December 16, Kate Winslet guested on host Josh Horowitz's movie interview podcast "Happy Sad Confused." Roughly 28 minutes and 40 seconds into their conversation, Horowitz shows Winslet a clip of a time he interviewed her former "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and asked him about the controversial "Titanic" ending. In it, DiCaprio simply replies, "I have no comment," and repeats this non-answer to a few follow-up questions.
Then, after initially laughing and admitting that she doesn't know whether or not Jack would have fit on the wooden plank key to Rose's survival, Winslet begins to share her point-of-view on the "Titanic" ending debate at roughly the 29:50 mark. Winslet, it turns out, is experienced with various forms of ocean sports. "If you put two adults on a stand up paddle board it becomes immediately extremely unstable. That is for sure," she says. "If you put two adults and, say, a seven year old on a paddle board you can't do anything. You'll be tipping, you'll be falling in the water."
Finally, at the 30:54 mark, Winslet lands on a definitive answer. While she thinks Jack may have been able to fit on Rose's makeshift life raft, she doesn't believe it would have supported the two of them without tipping. While this opinion may have been wholly off the cuff, Winslet is now technically on the record in defense of the ending director James Cameron ultimately released.