20th Century Studios
There are few debates when it comes to movies more upsetting and divisive than whether or not Jack would have fit on the door with Rose at the end of Titanic.
(Whether or not DieHard is a Christmas movie is also right up there at the top. It is.)
Everyone from Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie to Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have weighed in on the topic, all with differing opinions.
It’s been 25 years since Titanic first hit theaters and people are still arguing about it.
Back in 2017, Titanic director James Cameron told The Daily Beast, referring to a Mythbusters episode where they said Jack could have survived, “They’re fun guys and I loved doing that show with them, but they’re full of sh-t.”
Fast forward five years and, yep, people are still asking James Cameron why Rose didn’t just let Jack on the damn door!
In December of last year, it was reported that Cameron did a “scientific study to put this whole thing to rest” and he concluded that “there was no way they both could have survived.”
On Friday, National Geographic published a video of this study which will appear in the channel’s upcoming special Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron.
“A new investigation we’ve just done will settle this fan-based question about Jack and Rose and a piece of floating debris, which everyone calls a door,” Cameron told a Television Critics Association panel earlier this month. “It’s, technically, not a door, it’s a piece of wood paneling from the first-class cabin.”
As part of this “recreation,” two stunt doubles were submerged in 56 degree water for twice the amount of time Rose and Jack were floating in 28 degree water.
University of Otago hypothermia expert James Cotter oversaw the experiment and he told Cameron that minor change “actually plots out quite accurately according to the algorithms.”
Video of the experiment shows just how difficult it would have been for Jack, let alone Rose, to have survived in such challenging circumstances.
While the final conclusion isn’t reached in the video itself (honestly, it doesn’t look good for Jack), it will be revealed when the special airs on Sunday, February 5th.
However, when all is said and done, as James Cameron pointed out on that 2012 episode of Mythbusters, “the script says Jack dies, he has to die.” And that’s all that really matters.
Related: The Alternate Ending For Titanic Has Resurfaced And People Can’t Believe How Awful It Is