There are a lot of famous scenes and lines that come from the movie Titanic. I’m talking about “I’m the king of the world,” “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls,” and “I’d rather be his wh-re than your wife!” But no scene is more famous or controversial than the door scene at the end. For decades (yes, Titanic came out 27 years ago), people have been arguing about whether or not Leo DiCaprio’s character Jack could have avoided his untimely death by getting on the door with Kate Winslet’s Rose. Every so often, the debate will start up again and everyone will re-weigh in. Winslet recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz. During the interview, she revealed some different info about that scene, explaining that the scene was shot in an infinity tank of waist-high water and that Leo acted the entire thing out on his knees.
Kate Winslet hates to burst everyone’s bubble, but that iconic door scene in Titanic wasn’t as terrifying to film as fans assumed it to be. In a new interview on the podcast “Happy Sad Confused,” Winslet, 48, who played Rose DeWitt Bukater in the 1997 smash hit, revealed that she and costar Leonardo DiCaprio filmed the door scene in “waist-height” water.
“Well that was quite an awkward tank, that one,” Winslet told host Josh Horowitz. “To burst a bubble, it was waist-height, that tank. So first of all, I was regularly like, ‘Ugh, can I just go for a pee,’ and then I’d get up, get off the door, walk to the edge of the tank that was sort of 20 feet away, and I’d literally have to fling my leg over and climb out the tank and go for a pee and then come back and crawl on the door again.”
Winslet then shared that DiCaprio, 49, was kneeling the entire time he filmed his (spoiler alert) death scene, which has been heavily debated over the years.
“It’s terrible to admit these things … Leo is, I’m afraid, kneeling down on the bottom of the tank,” she revealed. “I shouldn’t be saying any of these things. [Director] James Cameron’s gonna be ringing me like, ‘Why are you telling them all that?’”
Winslet continued: “The thing that was amazing about the edges of the tank was that it was an infinity tank, so there was constant water rushing, and you could hear the constant sound of water.”
Apparently, the sound of moving water was so powerful that Winslet said the dialogue in the last 20 or so minutes of the film was re-recorded in a studio, including Rose yelling, “Jack! Jack!”
A quick refresher (more spoilers): DiCaprio’s character, Jack Dawson, dies after being submerged in the freezing cold waters for hours following the sinking of the Titanic. His hand ends up being frozen onto Rose’s as she safely floats on a door in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean before being spotted by a lifeboat.
Over the years, many have questioned whether Jack could have fit on the door alongside Rose, ultimately giving fans the happy ending they so craved.
During the press tour for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in 2019, DiCaprio stated “no comment” when asked for his thoughts. His costars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, however, believed Rose could’ve made some room.
“I don’t f—ing know,” Winslet said when asked about her own take on the controversial scene in a previous interview with Horowitz in 2022. “Look, all I can tell you is, I do have a decent understanding of water and how it behaves. If you put two adults on a stand-up paddleboard, it becomes immediately, extremely unstable. That is for sure.”
Winslet added: “I have to be honest: I actually don’t believe that we would have survived if we had both gotten on that door. I think he would have fit, but it would have tipped and it would not have been a sustainable idea”
She concluded, “Yes, he could have fit on that door. But it would not have stayed afloat. It wouldn’t.”
I love learning behind-the-scenes stuff like this. It’s not surprising that Leo wasn’t actually treading water, but it’s still cool to know the mechanism behind it. We rewatched the second half of Titanic a few years ago, after the Great Door Debate started again, and both Kate and James Cameron said that Jack may have fit but there were too many variables to know for sure. Cameron later said that he should have just made the door smaller, ha. You know what? We’ll all still be arguing this in three more years when pop culture celebrates the 30th anniversary. When it comes to the debate of whether or not Jack could have feasibly survived, we’ll never let go.
Photos credit: IMAGO/Dave Starbuck / Avalon, Phil Lewis / Wenn / Avalon, IMAGO/Faye Sadou / Avalon, Getty
Been a long time since I’ve seen Titanic – saw it soo many times when it came out LOL. I like Kate as an actress but she can be a tad annoying IRL, esp in interviews. She has always struck me as trying to hard to be like Emma Thompson, who is bonkers.
I never knew there was any controversy about that scene. I also like finding out how various movies scenes are made.
oh people debate it endlessly. its exhausting lol.
Its been a while since ive seen it, but in my recollection Jack tries to get on the door and it goes under and he goes back into the water, that’s why only Rose is on there. So the movie answers the “controversy” in the scene itself.
IIRC, the character was safe in a lifeboat, only to jump out of it at the last second when it descends. So she deprived someone of a seat, only to leave it empty in the end. Then the door won’t hold 2 people, which ended up killing Jack. If Rose had just stayed on the lifeboat, he could have lived. Or if she didn’t get on the lifeboat in the first place, someone else could have been saved.
The V&A had a great exhibition about cruise liners a few years back and they had a recreation (I’m pretty sure, not the OG) of the door in a shallow tank of water. It really has made it’s mark on popular culture.
FWIW I’m in the yes he’d fit but no they wouldn’t have successfully floated camp.
I think the whole point of that scene is that one of them would not survive and the other would have to channel Celine Dion singing “My heart will go on…” Thus making it a memorable heartbreaking and endearing love story. If they got on the door, one of them could have slipped and fell back into the waters or been attacked and eaten by squid, shark, jellyfish…who knows. The point is there is no happy ending for the couple — it does not align with the movie’s theme of loss, love, and remembrance. The only thing I didn’t like about Rose choices was throwing the diamond overboard. I would have pawned it for $$$$.
KW and Leo should team up one more time.
An old fashioned romcom would be welcome.
KW talks about Titanic much more than Leo ever does.
P&P with KW, Alan Rickman was terrific. Rickman steals the movie as the dashing Col. Brandon, give us more details on the bts of that movie.