Director James Cameron finally explains why Jack died in Titanic

20 years ago, one of the greatest love stories on celluloid was released, raising many questions for the movie lovers. Fans had been arguing about its climax, in which Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, died and Rose, portrayed by Kate Winslet, couldn’t make room for him on a ‘big’ floating door.

Recently, in an interview to Vanity Fair, director of the film James Cameron finally explained the ending of the iconic movie. “And 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,” he said.

Cameron went on to express dismay at being still asked about the artistic choice. “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 movie is all set to re-release on December 1 this year in 87 theaters, in order to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Cameron believes it is the best-looking version of ‘Titanic’ ever released.