Leonardo DiCaprio left an indelible mark as the free-spirited Jack Dawson in the memories of Titanic fans. Some viewers noticed that DiCaprio’s character stood out in the film, not only due to his performance but also because he looked like he was from an entirely different world in the film. While Cameron explained that Jack symbolized the liveliness of Titanic, a recent wild theory speculated that DiCaprio was a time traveler.
DiCaprio was not James Cameron’s first choice for the role, and during the audition, he spent most of the time goofing around. However, somewhere in between, he managed to impress the Avatar director.
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A Wild Theory About Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack In Titanic
Even today, Titanic remains a topic of extensive fan discussions. Fans often talk about the controversial nature of Jack’s death in the film, to the point that it irritated James Cameron. However, the oversized door was not the only ‘mistake’ in the Leonardo DiCaprio film. The Digital Fix refuses to believe that the meticulous Cameron overlooked mistakes in his film and presents an interesting perspective.
Jakob Barnes of The Digital Fix suggests that Titanic might be more than the romantic tragedy it is commonly perceived as—it could be a science fiction movie. According to this wild theory, DiCaprio’s character is a time traveler from another era who boards the RMS Titanic for Rose. The concept of time travel is not entirely foreign to the director, as he handled it in his previous films like The Terminator.
According to the theory, the time-traveler Jack purposefully boarded the ship, knowing it would crash and sink. His mission was to save Rose, who, at the beginning of the movie, had no will to live and contemplated suicide. Throughout the film, Jack shows Rose that there is more to explore in life. Jack also foresees his sacrifice in the end and makes Rose promise that she will lead a joyful life.
The author of the theory contends that the themes and premise of Titanic, while impactful, were deemed too simplistic for a storyteller as complex as Cameron. The theory further suggests that Cameron left clues throughout the movie, subtly hinting at this time-traveling angle.
Clues Supporting Leonardo DiCaprio’s Time Traveling Theory
In Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack is portrayed as a poor guy who wins a poker game to earn money to buy a ticket for the journey. The theory proposes that DiCaprio’s character plays the poker game because he has no money from that era to board the ship. Moreover, the movie accidentally mentions two events that occur only after the Titanic collision.
DiCaprio’s Jack mentions to Rose that he enjoys fishing on Lake Wissota. In another instance, he promises to take her on a rollercoaster ride at the Santa Monica Pier. However, Lake Wissota, a man-made lake, was not built until 1917, five years after the Titanic’s journey, and the rollercoaster opened only in 1916. The author finds it very unlikely that James Cameron would leave such inaccuracies in his movies.
The theory further posits that Jack’s hairstyle, backpack, and cigarettes were all from the 1930s, adding to the suspicions. Fans can assess the merits and drawbacks of this theory by rewatching the film, now available for streaming on Paramount+.