Would Jack fit? Auction sells controversial door from ‘Titanic’ for R$3.5 million

Remember the door that actress Kate Winslet clings to at the end of Titanic to free her character Rose from death? The one that everyone already knows could have also saved the beloved Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio? So it is! It was sold for the equivalent of millions of reais in an online auction.

The scenographic item was announced on Heritage Auctions, a website specializing in auctions of collectible objects, and sold this Monday, the 25th, for US$ 718,750 (somewhere around R$ 3.5 million at the current price). The piece continues to be advertised on the portal, with a new sales price adjusted automatically.

According to the website, the object is not actually a door, but rather an ornate structure that framed the huge entrance door to the first class lounge. After the shipwreck in the film, it served as floating wreckage for Rose to cling to until a boat arrived.

In 2023, the film’s director, James Cameron, put an end to speculation about the characters’ fates and admitted: yes, “Jack could have survived.” He completed, however, saying there were many variables for this result. In a National Geographic special, Cameron and the Titanic team recreated the scene and tested different ways in which the character could stay alive.

In the end, the filmmaker boiled it all down to Jack’s characteristics. “I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not going to do anything to put her at risk,’ and that’s 100 percent in character.” He stated at the time that he would have made another scenic decision to avoid the controversy. “With what I know now, I would have made the ferry [improvisada] smaller, so that there would be no doubt!”, he said.

Other items

Almost 200 objects from the film have already been sold on the portal, including Jack’s emblematic costume ($60,000). One of Rose’s several dresses sold for $118,750. And other elements, such as an ornate wooden panel destroyed from the scenic ship ($125,000) and even an entire lifeboat ($15,360), are also part of the sales list.

Another auction house, Henry Aldridge & Son, auctioned at the end of 2023 a real menu taken from the real Titanic, from 1912. The rare menu from the ship’s first class restaurant was sold for the equivalent of R$498,000 and probably belonged to a victim of the shipwreck, according to the institution.

(ESTADÃO CONTENT)

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