James Cameron Finally Reveals How Jack Could Have Survived ‘Titanic’
What To Know
- James Cameron revealed that Jack could have survived the Titanic sinking by jumping into the water next to a lifeboat as it cast off and relying on the passengers to pull him aboard.
- Cameron explained that most people lacked the courage to jump into the water, but those who did so at the right moment had a better chance of survival than waiting on the ship.
- In 2022, Cameron commissioned scientific tests confirming that only one person could realistically fit on the famous door, debunking the idea that both Jack and Rose could have survived on it together.
Fans of 1997’s Titanic have long wondered if the tragic death of Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Jack was necessary. At the film’s climax, Kate Winslet‘s Rose famously leaves a lifeboat to try her luck with Jack on the sinking ship; eventually, Rose floats at sea on a door while Jack expires swimming beside her in the icy water. Now, after decades of debate about whether Jack had to die, Titanic director James Cameron has revealed the correct way to survive the ship’s wreck.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron divulged that he believed the best way someone denied entry to the lifeboats could survive the ship’s wreck would be to stay on the ship as a lifeboat departed. Then, they should jump off the ship’s railing, and quickly swim to the lifeboat, where the passengers would feel compelled to pull them aboard.
“Most people wouldn’t have had the courage to jump into the water,” Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter. “They couldn’t quite believe that the ship was really going to sink. But if you knew for sure it was going to sink and you weren’t on a lifeboat, you jump in the water next to the boat the second it casts off. Once they rowed away, you were screwed. Are they going to let you drown when Titanic is still there and everybody is watching? No, they’d pull you in, and the officers would go, ‘Well, f***, there’s nothing I can do about that.’ Boat four would be a good one for this.”
This isn’t the first time the director has weighed in on the logistics behind surviving the wreck of the Titanic. In 2022, Cameron revealed to the Toronto Sun that he had commissioned a group of scientists to re-enact Jack’s death scene, with stunt actors who were physically similar to Winslet and DiCaprio; using a pool and bodily sensors, they determined that only one person could fit on the door.