One Titanic survivor didn’t let go—and now his grandson is making sure his story goes on.
Steven Fong confirmed that his grandfather Fang Lang—who survived the real sinking of the Titanic in 1912 by clinging to a door after the boat sank in the Atlantic Ocean—was the inspiration for the iconic scene in the 1997 movie Titanic where Kate Winslet famously whispered to Leonardo DiCaprio, “I’ll never let go, Jack.”
As for how that moment went down in real life?
“With my grandfather’s story, he actually went down with the ship,” Fong told CBS News in a feature published May 26, explaining that “to everyone’s amazement, he found his way onto a door.”
Titanic fans may recognize Lang’s name thanks to the film’s director James Cameron, with Fong noting that the filmmaker “does reveal that my grandfather was the inspiration for the Jack and Rose end scene.”
“It’s such a surreal feeling being part of this legacy, this big story that everybody knows about.” Fong said, adding, “We’re just so humbled by the opportunity to kind of add that to the story.”