James Cameron to ‘put to rest’ Titanic debate

The Oscar-winning filmmaker conducted forensic probe to respond to criticisms over the movie’s tragic end

James Cameron, the director of  ‘Titanic,’ has revealed he has conducted a “scientific study” that proves that the heartbreaking death of Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was inevitable. He hopes his probe will “put to rest” the decades-long debate about the finale of the 1997 cult romance-drama.

“We have done a scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all,” Cameron told Toronto Star on Friday, in an interview to promote his newly-released blockbuster ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’

Close to the end of the film, DiCaprio’s character and his lover Rose (played by Kate Winslet) survive the sinking of the Titanic and find themselves in icy ocean water. Jack saves Rose by letting her have all the room on a floating door. Unable to get on it, he stays in the water, hanging onto the edge of the door, and eventually freezes to death.

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Ever since the movie was released, fans have been arguing that Jack could actually have survived. The new study is set to prove them wrong.

“We have since done a thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert, who reproduced the raft from the movie,” Cameron said. “We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate and Leo 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. Only one could survive,” he explained.

The results of the probe will be shown in a documentary special on National Geographic channel in February, to coincide with Titanic 4K re-release into theaters on Valentine’s Day. 

A quarter of a decade on, the Titanic director says he doesn’t regret that his movie had no happy ending.  Jack “needed to die,” he insists.

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