Kate Winslet SaysTitanic'Door' from Famous Scene Was Actually Another Piece of the Ship: 'Wasn't Even a Door'

Mar. 15, 2025

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in 1997’s ‘Titanic’.Photo: 20th Century Fox/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

Kate Winsletis addressing the often-debatedTitanicdoor scene — which, according to her, may not even be a “door” scene after all.While speaking with Australian talk showThe Projectand promoting her performance in Ellen Kuras' new biopicLee, the 49-year-old Academy Award winner said that the “door” featured in the iconicTitanicscene wasn’t really a door, but rather another piece of the set.When asked if there was “room on the door” for costarLeonardo DiCaprio— whose characterJack Dawsonheld onto thepiece of floating woodafter the ship sank — Winslet, who playedRose Dewitt Bukater, said that she knew the interviewer would “ask me that question.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“I thought, ‘He’s busting out theTitanicquestion and next he’s gonna ask me about the door.’ I absolutely knew it,” Winslet said. “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.““It’s a piece of bannister, like stairway or something, that had broken off,” she continued. “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.“From left: Director James Cameron and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the set of ‘Titanic’.Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century FoxThe scene has been a topic of discussion amongTitanicfans and general movie-goers ever since the film’s 1997 release, with some fans onRedditalso coming to the conclusion that the debris wasn’t a door and matching it with an image from inside the film’s titular ship.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.TitanicdirectorJames Cameronalso previouslycommissioned a scientific studyto determine if there really was enough room for both Jack and Rose on the floating debris, when he and a team of scientists tapped two stunt doubles to reenact four different scenarios.“Jack might’ve lived, but there’s a lot of variables,” Cameron, 70, said last year. “I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not gonna do one thing that jeopardizes her.’ “Kate Winslet attends the 2024 Women in Film (WIF) annual gala in Beverly Hills, California on Oct. 24, 2024.MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via GettyDuring a92nd Street Y Q&A forLeeback in September, Winslet shared someadditional insighton the scene, joking that DiCaprio, 49, has probably “got PTSD” from being asked about theTitanicmoment so many times. Speaking with Josh Horowitz, Winslet also revealed that the water was not as deep as it looked on screen.“So first of all, I was regularly like, ‘Can I just go for a pee?’ And then I get up, get off the door, walk to the edge of the tank, sort of 20 feet away and I literally have to fling my leg over and climb up and come and get back on the door again. It’s terrible,” she recalled.“Anyway, yeah. So it was waist-high. Leo, I’m afraid to say was kneeling down. I shouldn’t be saying anyways, Jimmy Cameron’s gonna be ringing me,” Winslet joked.The actress also shared at the time that the cast and crew filmed the scene in an infinity tank, where there was “constant water rushing and you could hear the constant sound of water.” As she explained, everybody is “entirely looped” in with “the last 22 minutes” of the movie “because you can hear this water noise the whole time.”

Kate Winsletis addressing the often-debatedTitanicdoor scene — which, according to her, may not even be a “door” scene after all.

While speaking with Australian talk showThe Projectand promoting her performance in Ellen Kuras' new biopicLee, the 49-year-old Academy Award winner said that the “door” featured in the iconicTitanicscene wasn’t really a door, but rather another piece of the set.

When asked if there was “room on the door” for costarLeonardo DiCaprio— whose characterJack Dawsonheld onto thepiece of floating woodafter the ship sank — Winslet, who playedRose Dewitt Bukater, said that she knew the interviewer would “ask me that question.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I thought, ‘He’s busting out theTitanicquestion and next he’s gonna ask me about the door.’ I absolutely knew it,” Winslet said. “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.”

“It’s a piece of bannister, like stairway or something, that had broken off,” she continued. “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.”

From left: Director James Cameron and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the set of ‘Titanic’.Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox

The scene has been a topic of discussion amongTitanicfans and general movie-goers ever since the film’s 1997 release, with some fans onRedditalso coming to the conclusion that the debris wasn’t a door and matching it with an image from inside the film’s titular ship.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

TitanicdirectorJames Cameronalso previouslycommissioned a scientific studyto determine if there really was enough room for both Jack and Rose on the floating debris, when he and a team of scientists tapped two stunt doubles to reenact four different scenarios.

“Jack might’ve lived, but there’s a lot of variables,” Cameron, 70, said last year. “I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not gonna do one thing that jeopardizes her.’ "

Kate Winslet attends the 2024 Women in Film (WIF) annual gala in Beverly Hills, California on Oct. 24, 2024.MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty

MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty

During a92nd Street Y Q&A forLeeback in September, Winslet shared someadditional insighton the scene, joking that DiCaprio, 49, has probably “got PTSD” from being asked about theTitanicmoment so many times. Speaking with Josh Horowitz, Winslet also revealed that the water was not as deep as it looked on screen.

“So first of all, I was regularly like, ‘Can I just go for a pee?’ And then I get up, get off the door, walk to the edge of the tank, sort of 20 feet away and I literally have to fling my leg over and climb up and come and get back on the door again. It’s terrible,” she recalled.

“Anyway, yeah. So it was waist-high. Leo, I’m afraid to say was kneeling down. I shouldn’t be saying anyways, Jimmy Cameron’s gonna be ringing me,” Winslet joked.

The actress also shared at the time that the cast and crew filmed the scene in an infinity tank, where there was “constant water rushing and you could hear the constant sound of water.” As she explained, everybody is “entirely looped” in with “the last 22 minutes” of the movie “because you can hear this water noise the whole time.”

source: people.com