James Cameron Finally Admits Jack Could’ve Survived Titanic ‘But There’s a Lot of Variables’

After 25 years, James Cameron has admitted that both Jack and Rose could both have survived the sinking of the Titanic in his 1997 cinematic masterpiece, though there were “a lot of variables” in play.

Jack’s tragic death at the end of Titanic is without question one of the most popular talking points in the history of cinema. Many believe that Jack’s decision to shun the floating door in favour of the freezing waters of the North Atlantic Ocean was a calculated sacrifice needed to save the life of the one he loved – Kate Winslet’s Rose.

Others have vehemently pointed to the fact that it was a very large bit of door, and that there could have been a happier ending if the couple had simply spent a little more time working out how to share.

For over two decades the traumatic issue has remained a point of contention, being kept alive as fodder for countless YouTube videos, talk show appearances, and award ceremony puns. 

Now, as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of Titanic’s 1997 premiere, director James Cameron has teamed up with National Geographic to further explore the movie and attempt to settle the question of the door once and for all.

As reported by AV Club, the special saw two stunt people recreate the iconic scene in a safe setting, while carrying out a series of  tests designed to see if there was any way that Jack could have survived the ordeal.

First, both Jack and Rose attempted to clamber onto the door at once — a move that saw both of them largely submerged in freezing water that likely would have seen both killed before the lifeboat could arrive. 

They then were able to find a position where both actors’ upper bodies were above the waterline. “Out of the water the violent shaking [of the stuntman] was helping him, and projecting it out he could have made it pretty long, like hours,” said Cameron in a clip from Titanic: 25 Years Later, shown on Good Morning America (above).

However, that test didn’t take into account the exhausted state that Jack and Rose would have been in by the time they found their fateful door. To make the test more realistic, the stuntpeople splashed around and were pulled beneath the water as they were seen to be in the movie.

This time around Rose gave Jack her lifejacket as both stuntpeople balanced on the door, their top halves free of the water.

“And he stabilized, she got him to a place where, if we projected that out, he just might have made it until the lifeboat got there,” commented Cameron. “Jack might have lived, but there’s a lot of variables. I think his thought process was ‘I’m not going to do one thing that jeopardises her’, and that’s one hundred percent in character.”

In our review of the 1997 film, IGN gave Titanic a 9/10, stating that “Titanic is an outstanding motion picture, an achievement of big-budget filmmaking that will continue to amaze for decades to come”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer