The famous door that served as a floating device for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the last moments of Titanic has sold at auction for $700,000. The prop, a favorite for fans who argue about whether both characters could have fit on board, is one of the most famous and talked about of the smash hit movie.
It appears toward the very end of the film when the ship has sunk, and Winslet’s character, Rose, survives by using the door to keep her afloat and out of the freezing water. DiCaprio’s character does not join her, apparently realizing that it would not hold them both. He froze to death in the North Atlantic.
Director James Cameron addressed the controversy in 2022, saying he had proven DiCaprio’s character, Jack, would not have survived the iconic “floating door” scene. He said he commissioned a scientific study to “put this whole thing to rest once and for all.”
Cameron described the study in which two people, the same size as Winslet and DiCaprio, submerged themselves in freezing water “covered in censors” and conducted various survival tests. “There was no way they both could have survived,” Mr. Cameron concluded.
The recent Heritage Auctions’ Treasures from Hollywood sale also included Kate Winslet’s dress, worn during the movie’s finale, which sold for $125,000. Props from other movies included Indiana Jones’ whip from the Temple of Doom, which fetched $525,000, and the infamous axe used by Jack Nicholson in The Shining, which cost its buyer $125,000.
A shopper secured the shaving cream canister used to transport dinosaur embryos in the original Jurassic Park for $250,000, and Carrie Fisher’s Return of the Jedi blaster sold for $150,000.
The most expensive Hollywood prop ever purchased was Marilyn Monroe’s white cocktail dress from The Seven Year Itch. Monroe wore the dress when stepping onto a sidewalk grate, making it fly up in one of Hollywood’s most iconic moments. It sold for $4.6 million.
