“Titanic” director
James Cameron opened up to Vanity Fair in an interview on Sunday about a
question that has been on everyone’s minds since the movie hit theaters 20
years ago, “Why doesn’t Rose make room for Jack on the door?”
Cameron says the answer to
the question is pretty basic.
“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 famed director
explained to the mag.
LOOK: Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates & Frances Fisher Have An Epic ‘Titanic’ Reunion 20 Years Later
“I think it’s all kind
of silly, really, that we’re having this discussion 20 years later. But it does
show that the film was effective in making Jack so endearing to the audience
that it hurts them to see him die. Had he lived, the ending of the film would
have been meaningless… The film is about death and separation; he had to die.
So whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going
down. It’s called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics
reasons,” the 63-year-old director concluded.
But Cameron said he tested
the physics of the door prior to filming the iconic scene with Leonardo
DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
“I was in the water with
the piece of wood putting people on it for about two days getting it exactly
buoyant enough so that it would support one person with full free-board,
meaning that she wasn’t immersed at all in the 28 degree water so that she
could survive the three hours until the rescue ship got there,” James
explained about the much-talked about scene.
READ: ‘Titanic’ Sailing Back Into Theaters For One Week
This December marks the 20th
anniversary of the film sailing into theaters. The movie has now grossed over
$2 billion at the box office. “Titanic” was nominated for 14 Oscars
and won 11, including Best Picture and Best Director.
For the film’s anniversary,
James remastered the classic and “Titanic” will return to theaters
beginning Dec. 1.
— Kevin Zelman
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