Victor Garber weighs in on Titanic door controversy: 'It's one of those questions I don't understand'

Victor Garber may be sorry he didn't build Rose a stronger ship, but he's not sorry he thinks your Titanic door theories are silly.

"If that's the way [James Cameron] wanted to end the movie, he would've," says Garber in response to his thoughts on the longstanding fan belief that Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) fit on the door and lived. "It's one of those questions that I don't really understand. If that spoiled the movie for you, I'm sorry, but that certainly never crossed my mind."

For years fans have contended that Rose (Kate Winslet) was selfish and if she had shared the floating door in the mid-Atlantic with Jack, he could've lived. It's remained such a subject of debate that the Mythbusters dedicated an episode to it and Cameron himself ran a test experiment recently in the run-up to Titanic's 25th anniversary.

Cameron even admitted there were other potential outcomes after his series of tests, saying, "Jack might've lived, but there's a lot of variables. How much swell is there, how long does it take the lifeboat to get there. In an experiment in a test pool, we can't possibly simulate the terror, the adrenaline, all the things that worked against them. He couldn't have anticipated what we know today about hypothermia. He didn't get to run a bunch of different experiments to see what worked the best. Based on what I know today, I would have made the raft smaller, so there's no doubt."

But in Garber's eyes, it's the way the story goes and therefore, it shouldn't even be up for debate.

Garber featured in Titanic as Thomas Andrews, the designer of the ill-fated ship, and he remembers the experience as one of the most unique and memorable in his long career. We caught up with Garber in advance of the film's return to theaters for its 25th anniversary to reminisce about playing Andrews, perfecting an Irish accent, forming a bond with Winslet, and playing Scrabble to pass the time.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you come on board the film? Did they make an offer or did you audition?

VICTOR GARBER: I believe I was the last principal to be cast. They were already shooting in Mexico when I got the casting call to go to L.A. and meet with Mali Finn, who was the casting director. They sent me the script, and I thought it was really one of the best screenplays I've ever read. I certainly knew the story, but I thought it was a beautiful love story set in that very tragic time. So I worked on the part and I went in and she videoed me. It seemed to go really well, and she seemed very positive about it. I drove back to San Diego where I was doing a play, and then I didn't hear anything. What happened was when Mali Finn got back to her office after the weekend, she saw that my tape had not been sent. James Cameron had received a different audition and had told her, "I don't think this is the guy." And she was surprised. Then she realized that he hadn't seen my tape, so it was a comedy of errors. Then the next thing I knew, I was in a van after I'd finished the play I was doing and being driven to Rosarito, Mexico.

I met James Cameron for the first time on the set. He was actually in the tank filming. The background people were in the tank and floating around, and he was shooting. He waved at me. And then about a half hour later, he made his way over and was literally in the tank and looked up at me and said, "Well, welcome, I'm glad you're here, and I'll see you on set, and I'm so happy you're doing this." And I was there for the next five months.

You'd done a lot of stage work that required various dialects, but was Mr. Andrews' mid-Ulster accent intimidating?

Yes. Because I'm a perfectionist. There was a dialect coach on the set. I worked really hard listening to accents, and I didn't get as specific as I probably should have, but I knew that when I started, I was in the ballpark. Then the dialogue coach on set helped me. If it had been Scottish, I would've been in real trouble. But for some reason, Irish was a little easier to assimilate.

Mr. Andrews is obviously the real person who designed the ship, but the way that James Cameron wrote him, he's also this engine of dramatic irony and foreshadowing. Was that something that you had to take into account as you were playing him and try to make sure you weren't leaning too hard into that in any sense?

I don't honestly really think like that as an actor. I don't think, "Oh, he's foreshadowing." It's just a moment to experience. The way I work is if you're in a scene, all you can do is respond to the information you're getting. I don't plan it, it just comes in that moment. James is a very intricate director, and I loved working with him as an actor. I know he's known for his special effects and everything, but he had a real affinity for this role. He saw himself as that person on this whole project. I trusted him and he was very specific, as he is about everything, but I found that to be intriguing and helpful as an actor.

He has this very fatherly relationship with Rose when she doesn't really have a lot of people like that in her life. Was that something you actively worked to build with Kate?

No, it was completely spontaneous. Listen, I was in the presence of some of the greatest actors in the cinema, Leonardo and Kate were two of them. All I had to do was be present, and they gave me everything I needed, and I hopefully did the same to them. Kate and Leo were extraordinary, and they were in the early parts of their career. It's my good luck to work with great actors because that just makes me better and it makes me look better.

In a script full of infinitely quotable lines, you have two of them. The first one is, "It's made of iron, sir, I assure you she can and she will." How did you find the right delivery for that?

I didn't think of it as one of those lines that people would still be quoting. I knew it was obviously significant, and I didn't have that many lines, actually. It's a small part, but I knew that was a major moment. James directed me, and we did as many takes as he needed until he thought, "Okay, I have it." That's what acting on film is like. You can do it in any number of ways, and hopefully, you're in the right ballpark. It was an ominous and terrifying observation that he was presenting, and I just had to believe what I was saying.

Then you have this really touching goodbye scene with Rose, and "I'm sorry I didn't build you a stronger ship." Tell me more about finding the headspace for that moment, because there's all this guilt and things running through your head, but you don't want to over egg it in a sense.

What you're asking me is how I act. [Laughs] And I don't really have an answer for you other than all I had to do was look in her eyes and listen to what she was asking. And all of that just happened. It's really in that moment with the actor you're working with, that's when it happens. Sometimes I've had to manufacture it for myself because I was not getting anything from the actor I was working with, but certainly not in this case. Kate is one of the greats.

Probably the most memorable shot is you leaning against the mantel with the clock as the boat starts to tilt. What was involved in shooting that?

In a funny way, it was a little bit Mickey Mouse, because someone was literally holding my coat so I could lean forward without falling over. There was a grip behind me, holding my top coat, so I could look like I was on a tilt, which I wasn't. We were in a studio and things were moving, and they were on wires. So, I was watching all of this happen. When I set the time on the clock, which I know was a very poignant part of the movie, and I knew it was a very beautiful moment, but that was humorous because it was so not high-tech. The grips were hanging on to me, and I was hoping that I wouldn't fall over.

Obviously, a lot of people had to get in the tank and the water. Did you have to do much of that?

I never touched water I'm happy to say. Nobody believes me, but it's true. I think I was one of the only people on the set that didn't actually get wet.

When you signed on or during the making of it, did you have any sense of how huge Titanic would be?

I knew it was James Cameron, and he was known for doing extravagant and technically brilliant movies. Nobody really knew. We were worried we'd be another Waterworld that had all the hype and then doesn't work, because you don't know when you're shooting. I was there for months and it was rare that we got more than one or one and a half scenes a day. Most of the time, I sat around waiting to go on and didn't go on. It was a lot of that. It does sort of take the wind out of your sails, literally. But then I saw the premiere and I thought, "Oh my God, I'm in a classic movie." I couldn't believe it when I finally saw it.

Did you have any scenes that were cut that you wish made it in?

Oh, God, I certainly don't remember. I think they wanted to get an establishing shot of me when the boat hit or something. But it was a shot that never happened. I had to wait around and we finally did that, but it never got in the movie. I didn't really care. What I did care about was having to wait around to do it. But when I saw the movie, I couldn't believe what I was watching. I couldn't believe what James Cameron achieved and what everybody involved in the movie achieved. I never had any idea of the magnitude of what it would be when sitting in a theater.

With so much waiting and downtime on set, what did you do to fill the hours?

I hung out with some of the older actors, David Warner and Jonathan Hyde and Bernard Hill, and we played Scrabble. We sat in the dressing room for hours and hours and played Scrabble. We were shooting mostly nights. So, we'd go into makeup and hair around 4 PM, and if you were lucky, if you were in the first scene, you might get on the set. But sometimes they took so long that you didn't make it on and were sent home. But you're in costume, you're in hair and make-up, in the dressing room waiting. Cause if you're needed, you better get there fast. It was at least a month of that. I haven't looked at a Scrabble board since then, because I was so played out. But it saved us.

Who was the best at it? You?

No, Jonathan Hyde was, and Bernard was also. I had my moments, but they weren't consistent.

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