Depending on who you're arguing with, it's either complete fucking bullshit that Jack died at the end of Titanic or it makes perfect sense in every conceivable way. As writer and director James Cameron gears up for the film's 20th anniversary Dolby Vision re-release next month, he's more than prepared to once again calmly brush off Jack conspiracy theorists.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Cameron kindly reminded critics what they saw in Titanic was art. "Obviously it was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him. . . . I think it's all kind of silly, really, that we're having this discussion 20 years later," Cameron said. "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."
Cameron added that Titanic is ultimately a story of "death and separation," meaning Jack simply had to die. "So whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going down," he explained. "It's called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons."
In case you’ve somehow forgotten exactly how Jack's death played out in the 1997 megahit, Cameron is bringing Titanic—starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet—back to theaters in December with a fresh HDR remaster that is "beyond any format that you've seen before." The disaster-romance classic also has a surprise ending you'll never see coming.
During the same Vanity Fairchat, Cameron also dropped a few lines about nearly getting into a full-on altercation with disgraced former film exec Harvey Weinstein at the Academy Awards. Cameron said he nearly hit Weinstein with a Titanic-era Oscar statue after the two exchanged words regarding Miramax's relationship with Guillermo del Toro.
