Malala Yousafzai opened up about the shows she watches, the influence of films and television shows on her life, and the importance of staying optimistic while talking to actor Anna Kendrick in an interview. 

The Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was in Washington DC at the annual History Talks event which brings together political leaders and celebrities for a day of conversations. 

Yousafzai revealed that Titanic was the only Hollywood movie she had watched before moving to the United Kingdom, which led Kendrick to ask her about whether there was space for Jack on Rose’s door. The 25-year-old replied, “I think there was.” 

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She was referring to the scene where Kate Winslet’s character uses a wooden door as a raft to stay alive in the icy waters after the Titanic hits the iceberg and sinks, in James Cameron’s 1997 movie. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack, who meets and falls in love with Rose during the cruise, stays in the water and loses his life in the process. 

Since the movie’s release and its subsequent position as a Hollywood classic, there has been much conversation about whether Jack could have fit onto the door. Actor Brad Pitt also referenced it at the 2020 Golden Globes, saying “Still, I would have shared the raft” while praising DiCaprio for being a stellar co-star in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

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Elsewhere in the 30-minute interview, Yousafzai spoke about making education accessible to young girls staying at home during the pandemic. She credited television dramas in India with impacting her thoughts about herself and the role of women in society, saying that the stereotypical image of a woman reminded her that things should not be this way. 

Since Yousafzai survived an assassination attempt from a Taliban gunman at the age of 15, in 2012, she’s advocated for women’s rights all over the world.