Star of third highest-grossing film of all time voices agreement with fans who felt Leonardo DiCaprio’s character died unnecessarily

Did Winslet want DiCaprio to die in Titanic? – the Dailies film podcast Read more

Avatar and then Star Wars: The Force Awakens ousted James Cameron’s 1997 weepie from the top of the all-time highest-grossing film charts. Yet the power of the film Titanic to inspire debate remains undimmed, nearly 20 years after its premiere.

In the final scenes of the film, lovers Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) are parted forever when it becomes apparent there is only room for the latter on a floating door after the shipwreck. Rose remains afloat, and goes on to enjoy a long and happy life; Jack shivers to his death in the icy Atlantic.

Yet from first screenings, fans expressed scepticism about just how much of the raft Jack would have required, and conspiracy theories arose suggesting Rose may have hogged the space maliciously.

In 2012, a TV programme, Mythbusters, comprehensively proved that the couple could have both squeezed on, in a variety of configurations. Cameron protested that the question was also one of buoyancy. But the Mythbusters team countered that this could have been remedied by Rose placing her life-jacket beneath the raft.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I agree, I think he could have actually fitted on that bit of door’ … James Cameron with DiCaprio and Winslet on the set of the film. Photograph: Allstar/20 Century Fox/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

On Monday, Winslet finally weighed in with her take. “There was plenty of room on the raft,” said US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, to which Winslet replied, “I know, I know.” She also said: “I agree, I think he could have actually fitted on that bit of door.”

Speaking to the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman in 2012, Cameron also cited another reason for Jack’s fate: dramatic expediency. “Wait a minute,” he said, “I’m going to call up William Shakespeare and ask why Romeo and Juliet had to die.”