It’s a question that has plagued Titanic fans for the past two decades: Why didn't Rose make room for Jack on that stupid door?
Ever since the film’s 1997 debut, people have been debating whether or not the couple could’ve survived together on the floating piece of wood. And we get it: People would’ve loved to see Jack and Rose go on and live a fulfilling life with one another; however, a happy ending doesn’t always fit with the storyline.
Titanic star Billy Zane explained it perfectly.
“Your hero had to die,” he told People magazine recently. “I don’t know what else would have done it. It had to happen.”
Zane, who played the movie’s antagonist Cal Hockley, has addressed this controversy before. In a 2017 interview with Variety, the actor suggested that it might’ve been physically impossible for two people to stay afloat on that specific door.
“From a point of physics, sure. From a perspective of the times and that level of chivalry, I’m not surprised,” he said. “I don’t think this door issue was intended [laughs]. Somewhere between the art department and the camera department it might have photographed bigger than it was. I think the fact that Jack tried to ensure that the least amount of freezing water touch her skin, which was the case by not jumping on it, preserved her and saved her. That was the idea. If he went up there, it would have swamped them.”
We gotta say, we like Zane's most recent answer a lot better.
