It’s been nearly twenty years since we first became infatuated with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as the ill-fated, iceberg-crossed lovers Jack and Rose in Titanic. Two decades later, and the pair’s off-screen friendship has – to borrow a phrase from Céline Dion – gone on and on: as have our collective wishes to see their on-screen romance replicated in real life, with a happier ending. Yes, Kate is happily married and Leo is happily dating Victoria’s Secret models past and present. Yes, their platonic love is a truly wonderful thing, but don’t they just seem so joyously happy whenever they’re pictured together? Shouldn’t they just get married and live happily ever after, encapsulating all of our Nineties dreams in one Hollywood power couple?
For Kate, the answer is a definitive ‘no’ – though she completely understands our collective frustrations at their resolutely non-romantic relationship. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on ITV, the actress looked back at their long-standing friendship, explaining that ‘For Leo and I, I think it was seven months of very intense work. We were both really young, and luckily – and this is the fortunate thing – we never fancied each other. I know that’s really annoying to hear, I’m sorry, but we really never did.’
While Jack and Rose-style sparks never flew between the pair in real life, this meant that Kate and Leo developed a different, more laid back dynamic on set – one that has endured through the years. ‘We were able to tease each other, and we still do, so it’s really amazing,’ she added.
How does that teasing manifest itself? Another recent interview with Glamour perhaps provides some hints. ‘I’m not going to tell you what we actually talk about, but yeah, we’re very, very close and sometimes we do quote the odd Titanic line back and forth to each other, because only we can, and we find it really funny,’ she told the magazine earlier this summer.
With that in mind, we’ll forgive the lack of a real-life Jack and Rose romance. Our hearts will go on and on for this perennially charming duo.
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