Kate Winslet sheds light on the often-debated ‘room on the door’ argument from 'Titanic'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kate Winslet is putting the most controversial ‘Titanic’ question to rest - once and for all. 

Ever since the James Cameron directorial mega-blockbuster debuted in theaters in 1997, ‘Titanic’ raised an eternal debate about whether there was “room on the door” for Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack Dawson. 

Now, Winslet is discussing the often-debated scene while suggesting that it may not even be a “door” scene after all.

Kate Winslet addresses the door scene from ‘Titanic’

Kate Winslet, who essayed the role of Rose Dewitt Bukater in ‘Titanic’, recently appeared on the Australian talk show ‘The Project’ to promote her latest performance in Ellen Kuras' new biopic ‘Lee’. 

During the interview, as she was asked whether there was “room on the door” for DiCaprio’s character, the 49-year-old Oscar-winning actress quipped she knew that the interviewer would "ask me that question," per People.

‘The Reader’ actress continued, "I thought, 'He's busting out the Titanic question and next he's gonna ask me about the door'. I absolutely knew it.”

However, Winslet shared that though the scene got its popularity as a door scene, in reality, it might not be a door, but rather another piece of furniture from the set. 

"But, you know, what I will say that's really interesting is people keep referring to it as a door. It actually wasn't even a door,” added Winslet. 

The ‘Mare of Easttown’ actress continued, "It's a piece of bannister, like stairway or something, that had broken off.”

Addressing the often-debated question, the actress shared, "Who knows if [DiCaprio] could've [fit] on there or not. Honestly, I don't have any insights here that anyone else hasn't already tried to figure out."

James Cameron opened up about the door scene in 2023

Like the film’s stars, James Cameron too found himself often getting bombarded with questions regarding the probability of Jack’s survival. In 2023, during a talk for ‘Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron’, the director opened up about the scene, per Entertainment Weekly. 

After testing the various circumstances, Cameron said, "Final verdict: Jack might've lived, but there's a lot of variables. How much swell is there, how long does it take the lifeboat to get there.”

Cameron added, "In an experiment in a test pool, we can't possibly simulate the terror, the adrenaline, all the things that worked against them. He couldn't have anticipated what we know today about hypothermia. He didn't get to run a bunch of different experiments to see what worked the best."

Moreover, the director attributed the film’s conclusion to the character’s individual decision and the chivalrous code of conduct during the era. 

Cameron explained, "Jack's survival might have come at the price of her life, [and] there's a code of chivalry that men had in those days. Add to it his individual character — he's in love with her, a grand epic love which is self-sacrificial — I think his thought process was, 'I'm not going to do one thing that jeopardizes her'... and that's 100 percent in character."

He, however, confessed, "Based on what I know today, I would have made the raft smaller, so there's no doubt."