'Titanic' Movie News: Jack Had to Die in the Story, Billy Zane Insists
Billy Zane has explained why Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack Dawson character in "Titanic" had to die.
While it has been 20 years since "Titanic" became a global blockbuster and one of the most awarded-winning movies of all time, many fans still cannot move on from the fact that Rose (Kate Winslet) allows Jack to die in the movie. In a recent interview, though, Zane, who plays the role of Cal Hockley, Rose's fiance in the movie, defended the decision to kill off DiCaprio's character.
"Your hero had to die. I don't know what else would have done it. It had to happen," Zane said in an interview in defense of Rose, whom fans believe could have accommodated Jack on the floating wood debris in the movie and prevented him from dying in the freezing sea water.
In an earlier interview, "Titanic" director James Cameron had also stressed that Jack dies in the movie simply because his death has been written in the script. According to the multi-awarded director, while the thought that people still believe that Jack could have lived if only Rose accommodated him on the floating debris is kind of silly, as the movie was shown two decades ago, it is also a proof that Jack has left a mark in the hearts of the audiences as it hurts them to see him die.
"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..." Cameron said last year.
"Titanic" was released back in 1997, and raked in more than $2 billion as its worldwide gross. Based on the records of Box Office Mojo, it ranks second on the list of top-grossing movies of all time, with another Cameron-directed movie, "Avatar," holding the top spot.