James Cameron, scientists recreate ‘Titanic’ scene to see if Jack could survive

James Cameron, scientists recreate ‘Titanic’ scene to see if Jack could survive

Just like Rose, James Cameron can’t let go.

After decades of debate about whether his “Titanic” heroine actually could have enabled Jack to survive in the Oscar-winning blockbuster, the director has finally settled the score.

For the staunch believers who are convinced Rose could have spared some room on the floating door for her maritime fling, their hearts might sink when they learn the truth.

In the preview for his upcoming celebration of the film with National Geographic, dubbed “Titanic: 25 years Later With James Cameron,” the “Avatar” filmmaker heads a science experiment to determine if there was really enough room for the lovebirds aboard the floating piece of debris.

“We’ll find out once and for all whether Jack could’ve survived the sinking of Titanic,” Cameron says in the teaser for the special, which will debut next week.

With the help of a hypothermia expert, Cameron’s team conducted a “thorough forensic analysis,” complete with a reproduction of the makeshift raft created in the wake of the wreckage. The team tested a variety of scenarios.


Jack and Rose
For over two decades, fans have long debated the reality of the sinking lovebirds – and if Jack could have been saved.Alamy Stock Photo
testing out door theory
In the upcoming special celebrating 25 years since the “Titanic” blockbuster, Cameron put various wreckage theories to the test.National Geographic

In one, the pair become submerged in below-freezing water, and in another, Jack saves Rose from being pulled under by a fellow passenger. While Cameron admits Jack might have been able to make it “pretty long” or “until the lifeboat got there,” it wasn’t part of his master plan.

“We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate [Winslet] and Leo [DiCaprio] and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived,” he concluded, per the Toronto Sun.

“Only one could survive.”


James Cameron
With the help of a hypothermia expert, he deduced that it wasn’t plausible for Jack to survive.National Geographic
Jack and Rose recreation
Although it was possible in some scenarios that Jack could have lived long enough for help, there were too many variables to confirm it.National Geographic

But even if there was enough surface area on the piece of floating wood, Cameron firmly believes Jack “needed to die.”

“It’s like Romeo and Juliet,” he explained. “It’s a movie about love and sacrifice and mortality. The love is measured by the sacrifice.”

The “Titanic” filmmaker’s raft investigation follows years of angered fans who believe Jack’s death was unnecessary.

Winslet, 47, weighed in on the high-profile debate just last year, anchoring her answer in her extensive experience with waterborne activities. At the time, she said she doesn’t think the pair could have survived if they had both weighed down the door — although she admitted they could have fit.

Meanwhile, DiCaprio has kept tight-lipped, once saying he had “no comment” when asked by MTV years ago, as others have tried their luck to prove the director wrong.


James Cameron
Cameron has brushed off theories of Jack’s survival in the past.National Geographic
actors on door raft
For “Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron,” the team hired two people of similar size to the actors to recreate the scene.National Geographic

In 2013, the television program “MythBusters” put the iconic scene to the test, hypothesizing that Jack could have tied Rose’s life vest to the underside of the door to enhance buoyancy.

Although, just a few years later, Cameron scoffed at the theory.

“OK, so let’s really play that out: you’re Jack, you’re in water that’s 28 degrees; your brain is starting to get hypothermia,” Cameron told the Daily Beast at the time.


Sinking titanic
The study shut down theories once and for all.20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

“’MythBusters’ asks you to now go take off your life vest, take hers off, swim underneath this thing, attach it in some way that it won’t just wash out two minutes later — which means you’re underwater tying this thing on in 28-degree water — and that’s going to take you five to 10 minutes, so by the time you come back up you’re already dead,” he stated. “So that wouldn’t work.”

The “Titanic” revelation comes just after Cameron’s blockbuster “Avatar: The Way of the Water” became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time.