Leonardo DiCaprio Responds to the ‘Titanic’ Door Scene Controversy — 22 Years Later

It only took 22 years, but Leonardo DiCaprio has finally opened up about the controversial door scene in the 1997 box office mega hit, Titanic.

During an MTV News interview on Monday, July 15, the Oscar winner, 44, joined his Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood costars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt to discuss their film — however, the conversation suddenly flipped to whether Leonardo’s character in Titanic, Jack, could have fit on the same floating door as his love interest in the movie, Rose, played by Kate Winslet. The Wolf of Wall Street actress, 29, revealed that she was “bawling my eyes out when I was a girl” while watching that scene, while Brad, 55, said that he was “gonna go back and look” at that point in the movie.

“That is the biggest controversy, I think, in modern cinema,” Margot said, as the Inception star added, “Ever.”

“Could you? Could you have squeezed in there? You could’ve, couldn’t you?” Angelina Jolie‘s ex-husband teased Leonardo about the scene. “No comment, Brad,” the Shutter Island actor responded while laughing. More pushing by Margot to get an answer resulted in Leo once again saying, “Like I said, I have no comment.”

Aside from the infamous “door scene,” another memorable moment from the iconic film features Jack standing on the boat, yelling “I’m king of the world!” to the open seas. And yet, Leonardo didn’t want to say that line according to director James Cameron. “It was made up on the spot,” the Avatar creator, 64, recalled to BBC’s Movies That Made Me.

“I was in a crane basket, and we were losing the light. I had tried this and we had tried that, tried this line and that line and it was just coming up snake eyes.” the Terminator director continued. “And I said, ‘Alright, I’ve got one for you. Just say, ‘I’m the king of the world,’ and just spread your arms out wide and just be in the moment and just love it and just celebrate it and love it.’ And he goes, ‘What?’”

“I’m getting this over the walkie talkie. ‘I’m the king of the world,’ just say, ‘I’m the king of the world,’ but you’ve got to sell it!’ And he goes, ‘What?!’ I said, ‘Just f**king sell it,’” James recalled. Don’t worry, because eventually, Leonardo says the line, and it became one of the most memorable in movie history.

If only he would have found some room on that door though.

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