James Cameron recreates ‘Titanic’ Jack and Rose Ending to test whether Jack could have fit the door

Amid the 25th anniversary of Titanicdirector James Cameron sets out to settle the longstanding debate once and for all: whether Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack could have watched over that door and survived.

In a teaser from his upcoming National Geographic special, Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameronthe director conducts a scientific investigation to assess whether there was enough room for both Jack and Kate Winslet’s Rose on the floating door rubble after the sinking of the Titanic.

“We’ll find out once and for all if Jack could have survived the sinking of the Titanic,” Cameron says in the preview.

To reexamine Jack’s final moments, Cameron enlisted the help of a team of scientists and two stuntmen to test four different scenarios to investigate whether two people could have shared the door.

“Jack and Rose can get on the raft, but now they’re both submerged in dangerous levels of icy water,” Cameron explains as the stuntmen prove it.

Meanwhile, in another example, Cameron points out, “Out of the water, violent shaking helped him and by projecting it outward he could have made it quite long, like hours.”

For a final test, they then record the physical strain the characters would have endured amid the sinking of the ship – in the film, another passenger submerges Rose underwater before Jack saves her by punching them. Cameron also tests the scenario if Rose would have offered her life jacket to isolate Jack: “And he’s stabilized. He got to a place where if we projected that, he might have made it until the lifeboat got there.

In the end, Cameron comes out with his final verdict: “Jack may have lived, but there are a lot of variables.”

However, he notes that Jack’s character would still choose to do anything to save Rose: “I think his thought process was, I’m not going to do anything that puts her in danger. And that is 100 percent in character.”

Cameron has spoken out about the door debate over the years, arguing that it was vital to the story. But with the special he tries to settle the debate for good.

In an interview with the Toronto sunCameron said he hopes the study “puts this whole thing to rest and drives a stake through his heart once and for all.”

Despite the outcry and hope that Jack’s ending turned out differently, Cameron explained, “No, he had to die.” It’s like Romeo and Juliet. It’s a movie about love and sacrifice and mortality. Love is measured by sacrifice.”

Winslet recently did her part in trying to settle the debate, saying “He could have watched that door once and for all, but it wouldn’t float,” adding that it wasn’t a “sustainable idea.”